Truck driver fined over phone chat

William Morgan ignored police trying to stop him

A lorry driver who used his mobile phone while driving a fully-laden 27-tonne truck along a busy motorway has been fined £200.

William Morgan, 59, ignored police trying to stop him for five minutes as he kept driving at 50 mph along the M5 near Exeter while talking into his phone.

The Swindon-based driver agreed with police that he was using the phone but argued that he was in control of his vehicle.

Morgan did not turn up for the hearing at Exeter Magistrates Court and the bench found him guilty of not being in proper control of the vehicle.

Flashing lights

Patrol constable Martin Matthews had issued Morgan with a £30 penalty ticket but the trucker had not paid it - and will now end up paying more than nine times the original fine.

PC Matthews said he followed the truck for five minutes with lights flashing on his police patrol vehicle, but Morgan failed to see the lights or ignored them until he finally pulled over on the motorway at Cullompton, Devon, last September.

He said: "He paid no attention to us whatsoever or did not see us in his mirrors. He was continuously on the mobile phone until we stopped him."

Morgan was fined £200 and ordered to pay £75 costs.