A LOOPHOLE that allows motorists to avoid bans after being caught using a mobile phone when behind the wheel will be closed.

Under plans announced by the Department for Transport (DfT), new drivers - particularly those in their teens or early 20s - will no longer be able to take a re-education course as an alternative to fines and penalty points.

This November, a series of special reports have appeared in the Daily Echo warning of the dangers of using phones when driving.

We have also published photographs of drivers using their mobiles while driving along the Wessex Way as part of our campaign to see a strict liability, automatic one-month ban for anyone caught using a mobile device at the wheel.

Prime Minister Theresa May said she wants to make using a mobile phone at the wheel as socially unacceptable as drink-driving.

PC Jez Strothard of Dorset Police's No Excuses team said officers use both marked and unmarked cars to identify drivers who use phones or other devices when behind the wheel.

"Using a mobile phone while driving is an extremely dangerous behaviour for motorists which puts drivers, passengers and other road users at risk of death or serious harm," he said.

The DfT plans were announced shortly after the jailing of lorry driver Tomasz Kroker, who was scrolling through music on his phone just before he ploughed into stationary traffic on the A34 in Berkshire, killing Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and 11-year-old Josh, and step-daughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11.

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: "By ruling out courses and doubling the fine, ministers are reflecting public concern and showing they want to stamp out a potentially lethal activity before it becomes entrenched behaviour for a growing number of drivers."

Mrs May said the government would work with the public to "raise awareness" of the dangers of driving and dialling.

Speaking during a visit to India, she said: "Sadly we have seen too many times the devastating and heart-breaking consequences of using a mobile phone while driving. A moment's distraction can wreck the lives of others forever."