Ex-Tory transport minister fined for using phone while driving

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 1 Nov, 19:32 · Archive

George Freeman, a former Tory transport minister, has been fined £430 and given six penalty points after pleading guilty to using his phone while driving.

George Freeman, the Mid Norfolk MP and former transport minister, has been fined £430 and received six penalty points on his licence after pleading guilty to using his phone while driving. He was caught after a passing cyclist photographed him and reported him to police.

Freeman appeared at Stratford Magistrates Court on 1 September, where he also had to pay a £172 surcharge to support justice services and £130 in costs to the Metropolitan Police. He told the Mirror he was sitting in gridlocked traffic and checking Waze on his phone for an alternative route. 'I took full responsibility and deeply regret my actions,' he said.

Freeman served as a transport minister under Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. He quit as science minister in November 2023, citing that his £118,300 ministerial salary did not cover his £2,000 monthly mortgage repayments. This allowed him to take up second jobs alongside his MP salary of approximately £86,000 a year. Metro reports he later took on a paid advisory role at GHGSat, a greenhouse gas emissions monitoring service, in April 2024.

How it is being reported

• Cyclist catches ex transport minister looking at phone while driving to ‘check Waze’George Freeman was given six penalty points on his licence after he was spotted looking at his mobile while driving.Metro · 1 Nov, 19:14
• Former Tory minister George Freeman pleads guilty to using phone while drivingEXCLUSIVE: Former Tory minister George Freeman is understood to have been caught breaking the law after a cyclist took a photo of him using his phone at the wheelThe Mirror · 1 Nov, 13:05

In this story: George Freeman · Mid Norfolk · Stratford Magistrates Court · Metropolitan Police · Boris Johnson · Rishi Sunak · GHGSat

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log