The owner of a structural steelwork business has been suspended from professional driving for 12 weeks by the East of England Deputy Traffic Commissioner.
Mark Honess, 41, of Longwick Road, Princes Risborough, will not be able to drive large goods vehicles again until October after he was reported for two speeding and two mobile phone offences.
The order by Marcia Davis, the region’s Deputy Traffic Commissioner, follows a conduct hearing in Cambridge on 03 July.
Miss Davis concluded that the pattern of offending “looked shocking”, with a speeding offence recorded in April 2014, a mobile phone offence in August 2014, another speeding offence in October 2014 and the second mobile phone offence in July 2016.
Mr Honess told the regulator one of the speeding offences was “just over the limit” and said it had been stupid to answer the phone calls. He had seen the error of his ways and now had Bluetooth installed. On the way to the hearing, he had received a call but did not take it on Bluetooth because he wanted to concentrate on his driving.
The Deputy Traffic Commissioner said the combination of speed and distraction from using a handheld mobile phone was “lethal”, adding that his offending had revealed a propensity to break the law.
“This idea of immediacy has gotten out of control,” she added. “If someone calls, why is there a need for an immediate response when your eyes should be on the road?”
Mr Honess asked the Deputy Commissioner not to take his professional driving licence away as he needed it for work. In court, where he had faced disqualification under the totting up procedure, Mr Honess successfully put forward an argument for exceptional hardship because he was in charge of a business and the sole breadwinner in his household.
But Miss Davis noted that there was clear guidance for professional drivers on the likely consequences for committing offences, including using a mobile phone.
The Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain’s statutory document on vocational driver conduct explains the standards which professional drivers are expected to meet, as well as the starting points that commissioners use when considering whether to take against a driver’s vocational licence.
