FT/D/2025/0435 - [2025] UKFTT 01267 (GRC)

Summary of the Registrar's position

Having considered the Appellant's explanation for how the points were incurred the Registrar said that:-

ADIs and those aspiring to be ADIs are expected to have higher standards than ordinary motorists and they need to have a keen regard for road safety but that this offence does not display the level of responsibility needed.

the Appellant did not seek to explain any mitigation in court but accepted 6 penalty points.

use of a mobile phone had contributed towards 17 deaths, 119 serious injuries and 308 minor injuries in 2020.

such offences cannot be condoned by the Registrar as that would "effectively sanction such behaviour..."

to allow the Appellant to continue would undermine confidence in the Register.

The Registrar also, at the appeal, indicated that he did not accept that the need for the mobile phone to be picked up from under the footbrake was urgent as the average device is just a few millimetres in depth and the footbrake does not need to travel to the floor to be effective. He also said that the Appellant should have left it where it was and remained focused on the actions of the pupil driver and the road before finding a safe place to stop and pick up the device. It was also clear that use of a mobile phone's map function as a satnav was not recommended by the Registrar for a driver as for example its other functions risked driver distraction.