Recently, Aaron Roberts acted for a client who had been issued with a Traffic Infringement Notice for ‘Use Mobile Phone Whilst not Permitted’. An offence of using your mobile phone whilst not permitted carries 5 demerit points and a fine of $349.00.

Our client elected to have his traffic infringement dealt with in Court, believing he had been lawfully using his mobile phone, and that he should never have been issued with the infringement notice by police. He entered a plea of not guilty to the offence.

Aaron was able to have the offence withdrawn by police, who initially failed to take into consideration that our client had his phone affixed to an approved mount in the vehicle, and was using his phone for navigational purposes. Using your phone in this manner is not an offence.

After police withdrew the offence, Aaron made an application for our client to recover his legal costs pursuant to section 214 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW). The Magistrate was of the view that Police ought to pay for our client’s legal fees, and as such, our client was able to recover all of his legal fees he had incurred in defending the offence. 

For more on when you should or should not use your phone while driving, check out our blog here.

Photo by Mike Bird