A DRIVER on her phone at a set of traffic lights told police it was “important” before driving away with her phone still in her hand.

Officers from the Dorset Police No Excuse team saw the woman in Castle Lane West in a white Fiat Punto.

A spokesperson for the No Excuse team said: “While in the area of Castle Lane West, Bournemouth, outside Bournemouth hospital, at the traffic lights heading towards Christchurch we pulled alongside the vehicle at a red traffic signal where we spotted a 62-year-old female driver texting away.

“To grab the driver’s attention, we illuminated our blue lights and siren where we asked politely for her to put the phone down, to which she replied, ‘it’s important’ and put the window up and carried on texting, we captured a picture below at that moment.

“The lights turned green, she moved off with the phone in her hand - we stopped her further down the road to which she was very apologetic, it wasn’t important and admitted texting away

“The driver received a ticket for using a phone whilst driving, six points and £200 fine.”