By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Britain’s Home Minister Liam Bryne, who earlier held the police portfolio in the department, was Friday penalised for talking on his mobile phone while driving in Birmingham.
Bryne, currently is in charge of immigration issues in the department and interacts with Indian groups campaigning for issues such as the Highly Skilled Migrants Permit, was stopped on July 6 on Birmingham’s Tyburn Road.
On Friday he was fined 100 pounds after admitting to using his mobile phone while driving. Using the mobile while driving was banned in the UK in 2003. He was also ordered to pay 35 pounds in costs and was given three penalty points on his driving licence.
Byrne, an MP from Birmingham Hodge Hill, is also the minister for the West Midlands. He is considered a rising star within the Labour party, but faces considerable embarrassment due to this incident. The Home Office declined to comment.
He said in a letter that he was involved in an important telephone call about a deportation matter, but realised that he should have pulled his car over before taking the call. He apologised to the court for taking up its time.
Byrne was told that the fine could have been 150 pounds, but had been reduced to 100 pounds since he had promptly pleaded guilty and had expressed remorse.
Kevin Clinton of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) told the BBC that Byrne should have known better than using the mobile phone while driving. It was his government that had imposed a ban on such use.
Clinton said: “The Home Office is responsible for the law and its ministers should be well aware of it and set the correct example. Far too many lives have been lost needlessly because of mobile phone calls and whether you are on a hand-held or a hands-free phone you are four times more likely to crash.
“It is good to see him being treated in the same way as other motorists and it shows that people who flout this important law do get caught and punished.”