HAMPSHIRE Constabulary and Thames Valley Police are cracking down on drivers using their phones at the wheel with a national week of enforcement action.

This comes as new legislation comes into effect from today, which means that offenders caught face double the penalties that they did before.

The offence now means that drivers will receive six points on their driving licence and a £200 fine, as opposed to before, where offenders received three points and a £100 fine.

One of the groups most affected by this change will be younger motorists, who now risk having their driving licence revoked after their first offence.

Between the dates of the campaign week, (1/3/17-7/3/17) anybody caught and issued with a fixed penalty notice with no option to undertake a driver retraining scheme awareness course.

As of Wednesday March 8, there will be a change in policy across both Hampshire and Thames Valley in that the awareness course will no longer be routinely offered as an alternative to a fixed penalty notice. Officers will use their discretion as to whether, in exceptional circumstances, a course is appropriate.

Between January 1 2014 and September 30 2016, there were 56 collisions across Hampshire in which use of a mobile phone while driving may have been one of the factors that lead to the incident. Four people died and there was a total of 73 injuries.

During the same period, a total of 14,651 tickets were issued to drivers found to be using a mobile device while driving.

Superintendent Simon Dodds, head of the Joint Roads Policing Unit across both forces, said: "There is never an excuse for someone to be using their mobile phone while driving and this change in legislation sends a clear message that it will not be tolerated.”

However, Darrell Martin, the brother of Lee Martin, who was killed by a driver who was texting immediately before the collision last August, thinks it is a step in the right direction.

Darrell Martin said: "I am pleased that these tougher penalties are being introduced, however in my opinion more can still be done to properly reflect the danger posed by a conscious decision to act recklessly.”

Christopher Gard, 30, of Linnet Way, Alton, was jailed for nine years for causing the death of 48-year-old Lee Martin on the A31 near Bentley.

"We need to get to the point where everyone is challenging any driver who goes to pick up their mobile phone when driving, just as most of us would do with a drink driver."