- Alcester Office +44 (0)1789 765522
- Bedford Office +44 (0)1234 400000
- Birmingham, New St. Office +44 (0)121 270 5666
- Birmingham, Newhall St. Office +44 (0)121 703 2606
- Bristol Office +44 (0)1454 275 190
- Cardiff Office +44 (0)29 2240 8700
- Evesham Office +44 (0)1386 425300
- Gatwick Office +44 (0)1293 602890
- Harrow Office +44 (0)20 8907 4366
- Leicester Office +44 (0)116 255 9911
- Leigh Office +44 (0)1942 673311
- Lichfield Office +44 (0)1543 414426
- Luton Office +44 (0)1582 720175
- Northampton Office +44 (0)1604 233 200
- Redditch Office +44 (0)1527 406363
- Solihull Office +44 (0)121 705 2255
- Stopsley Office +44 (0)1582 453 366
- Sutton Coldfield Office +44 (0)121 355 6118
- Tunbridge Wells Office +44 (0)1892 553090
- Walkden Office +44 (0)161 790 1411
- Walsall Office +44 (0)1922 720000
- Warrington Office +44 (0)1925 632267
- Westhoughton Office +44 (0)1942 816515
- Whitefield Office +44 (0)161 796 7920
- Wigan Office +44 (0)1942 244294
Proposed new motoring laws could mean life sentences
Proposed new laws announced by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) mean drivers who cause death while using their mobile phone at the wheel could face life sentences.
The Justice Secretary Robert Buckland is proposing that maximum jail terms should be increased from 14 years to life for drivers who cause death by dangerous driving after concern that offenders had escaped with “soft” sentences. Mr Buckland said, “This Government has been clear that punishments must fit the crime, but too often families tell us this isn’t the case with killer drivers. So, today I am announcing that we will bring forward legislation early next year to introduce life sentences for dangerous drivers who kill on our roads, and ensure they feel the full force of the law.”
In 2019 some 174 people were sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving with a further 19 convicted of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs. Of these more than 30 involved deaths caused by a driver who was using a mobile phone at the wheel.
In one 2020 case a schoolboy and a mother-of-two were killed in a motorway collision where the killer was fond to have used his mobile phone whilst driving his HGV. He was jailed for 8 years and 10 months however courtesy of the current automatic early release rules the 33-year old driver will be freed in four years. I
A government consultation found 90 per cent of people backed a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving and Seventy per cent backed a life sentence for causing death by dangerous driving.
The new law is predicted to be known as “Violet-Grace’s law,” following the death of four-year-old Violet-Grace Youens at the hands of a speeding driver in a stolen car.