Police in Britain have handed out over 27,000 fines to drivers for illegally using a mobile phone since March this year, when the penalty for the offence doubled, new research by car reviews website Carbuyer.co.uk has revealed.

In the six months after the Government doubled mobile-phone penalties from a £100 fine and three penalty points to a £200 fixed penalty notice (FPN) and six points, 27,614 drivers have been caught for the act. This equates to roughly 149 drivers a day across the country. Under the new £200 FPN, police across Britain will have earned as much as £5.5million.

The March change in penalties was followed by a nationwide enforcement scheme. In March alone, the Metropolitan Police issued 3,353 fines to drivers using mobile phones, with over 8,000 motorists fined over the month.