Harsher punishments for using a mobile phone behind the wheel have seen the number of offenders on the region’s roads drop 25% in just one year.

Penalties for the offence doubled to £200 and six penalty points in March 2017.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued to drivers in the South West dropped to 2,122 in 2017 according to new figures obtained by Confused.com, the driver savings site, through Freedom of Information requests to the region’s police forces. This is down from 2,821 in 2016.