I WOULD like to respond to recent correspondence (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, December 23) about the growing number of drivers risking using a mobile phone and a perceived lack of enforcement by Thames Valley Police.

I am a roads policing officer with 20 years’ experience and hold the position of Road Safety Constable for Oxfordshire.

When the law changed in February 2007, increasing the roadside penalty for this offence from a £30 ticket to a £60 endorseable fixed penalty, carrying three penalty points, I noticed a marked decrease in the number of drivers using a hand-held phone whilst behind the wheel.

Since then, I have seen the number of offenders steadily increase back up to pre-2007 levels.

Those tempted to take a call while driving should be aware that if the matter were to go to court, then the fines are increased to £1,000 for car drivers and £2,500 for goods vehicles and buses.

If a collision occurs, we often seize the driver’s mobile phone. If it can be shown to have been in use at the time, then custodial sentences are often passed by the courts.

The writer’s claim that this offence is ignored by police is wrong.

It is, however, often difficult to spot these offences while driving a marked police vehicle, as the offending driver will usually see the police car long before the police officer sees the phone being used and consequently takes action to disguise his activity.

To counter this, roads policing officers often drive unmarked vehicles and carry out roadside checks in plain clothes on foot.

I regularly carry out such checks across the county, where passing drivers are observed by an evidence gatherer and the offenders are stopped further down the road by roads policing officers, who issue them with a fixed penalty notice or report them to attend court.

Last year, I provided the evidence for 518 mobile phone offences, all of which were committed on Oxfordshire’s roads and resulted in the driver either accepting a fixed penalty notice or attending court.

In Oxfordshire, Bucks and Berks, Thames Valley Police officers issued more than 7,000 fixed penalty tickets to drivers who were caught using their mobile phone last year.

This year, we intend to step up the level of enforcement of this offence, recognising the significant risk it poses to the offender and other road users alike.

Pc Mark Pilling Thames Valley Police Abingdon