THE Government dropped plans yesterday to ban drivers from using hands-free kits to talk on mobile phones after deciding that such a law would be too difficult to enforce.

Ministers said that the ban would apply only to handheld phones. The new offence will be punishable by a £30 fixed penalty.

The new offence, which is to come into force on December 1, will carry a maximum fine of £1,000 for cars and £2,500 for goods vehicles and buses if the driver is taken to court. The Government expects police to issue about 100,000 £30 penalties a year and take about 5,000 drivers to court.

The offence will initially not carry penalty points because that would require primary legislation. Mr Jamieson said that punishment would be toughened with the addition of three penalty points, but only when “parliamentary time allows” and probably not before 2005.

The mobile phone industry, which makes billions of pounds from people talking on phones while driving, had lobbied heavily against banning hands-free kits. It said that doing so would criminalise the six million motorists who have purchased such kits.

The Government had proposed last year to ban earpieces, microphones and other devices that were not permanently wired into the vehicle with built-in microphones. Several studies have shown that drivers who use hands-free kits are just as distracted as those who hold phones in their hands. A Swedish study published this week showed almost no difference in reaction times.

But David Jamieson, the Road Safety Minister, said: “The difficulty is actually getting a case against someone who is using a hands-free kit. We would have to prove the person was having a conversation and having an earpiece in place might not be enough.”

He accepted that the change of mind over hands-free kits might encourage more motorists to buy them. “There may be growth in that part of the market. But we are saying that people shouldn’t really be using mobile phones at all while driving. Any driver will be distracted by a phone call or text message. Missing a call won’t kill you; an accident quite possibly could.”

Mr Jamieson said he had received assurances from some mobile phone manufacturers that they would put warnings in packaging, telling motorists of the dangers of having phone conversations while driving.

One third of drivers admit to talking on handheld phones while at the wheel and one in ten send text messages, according to a survey of 675 drivers by the car insurance firm Zurich.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that the new law was a welcome first step but condemned the exemption on hands-free kits. Kevin Clinton, the group’s head of road safety, said: “We are worried that the powerful mobile phone industry will use the new law as an opportunity to market hands-free kits claiming they are safe, when in fact they are not.

“Drivers who make phone calls tend to vary their speed, drive closer to other vehicles, wander about on the road and their reactions are slower.”

The organisation said that thousands of accidents had probably been caused by people talking on the phone, although police do not keep figures. It has details of more than 20 fatal crashes in the past eight years in which a driver was talking on a phone, including two when the driver was using a hands-free kit.

Mr Clinton urged companies to make it a disciplinary offence for an employee to use a mobile phone while driving on business. “If they don’t and the worker has an accident, then the company could face action under health and safety law,” he said.

The AA Motoring Trust welcomed the decision not to ban hands-free kits. A spokesman said: “It would be difficult to enforce without banning the sale of the kits and ordering their removal from cars.”

The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said: “In the last five years, the number of dedicated traffic police officers has dropped by 12 per cent. Without a high-profile enforcement campaign, it’s no good having an offence.”

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