Well actually it is not ‘fine’ as in nice, OK, but ‘fine’ as in monetary terms with news just out that a car insurance company has decided to penalise drivers with points on their licence from a hand-held mobile phone offence.

It raises some interesting issues, too: does three points on your licence because you committed a hand-held mobile phone offence make you more dangerous as a risk than three points for a "routine" speeding offence?

The answer, according to Allianz, is definitely yes.  They describe the hand-held phone offence as a "dangerous and needless act".   

So now those who persist with this dangerous hand-held habit will suffer the triple whammy: a fine, points on their licence, and an increase in the insurance premium then they renew.

Despite the Department for Transport (DfT) revealing 185,000 drivers were caught using hand held phones in 2007, Allianz claim that ten per cent of motorists admitted in a survey to using their mobile without a hands-free kit while they were behind the wheel, even though the fine has doubled from £30 to £60, with three penalty points.

I guess, for the time being, mobile phones are here to stay so the answer is to invest in a Bluetooth hands-free kit, which are widely available at less than £30. 
Put bluntly, that's less than half the cost of the fine if you are caught.Â