The first laws on using a mobile while driving were introduced back in 2003.

But every year dozens of drivers in Essex get behind the wheel and use a mobile device.

It is illegal to hold a phone or sat nav while driving a car or riding a motorcycle.

The law still applies if you are at traffic lights, queuing in traffic or supervising a learner driver.

You can use a hand-held phone while safely parked or if you need to call 999 in an emergency and it is unsafe to stop.

Those who end up in court are given six penalty points and fines of about £200.

Here are cases heard in the last three months involving Essex drivers.

Ross Lewis, 44, of Hamstel Road, Southend, was charged with using a mobile while driving on the M25 in Surrey on June 11.

Lewis admitted the offence and the case was dealt with using the single justice procedure at Guildford Magistrates' Court on January 12.

He was fined £53 and given six penalty points.

Lewis must also pay a £34 victim services fund and £90 costs.

Bonnie Dicks, 29, of Woburn View, Little Waltham, was charged with using a mobile while driving on the A12 at Chelmsford on April 13.

The case was proved using the single justice procedure at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on November 3.

Dicks was handed six penalty points and fined £220. She was also ordered to pay a £34 victim services fund charge and £90 costs.

Jason Kidgell, 48, of Larkswood Walk, Wickford, was charged with driving while using a mobile phone on Nevendon Road on April 19.

Kidgell admitted the offence and at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on November 3 he was handed six penalty points and a fine of £161.

He must also pay a £34 victim services fund charge and £90 costs.

Steven Kinealy, 39, of Chafford Gardens, West Horndon, was charged with using a mobile device on Hornchurch Road on May 4.

The case was proved using the single justice procedure at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on December 3.

Kinealy was handed six penalty points and fined £220.

He was also ordered to pay a £34 victim services fund charge and £100 costs.

Frantisek Mader, 55, of Albert Street, Harwich, was charged with using a mobile phone on Garland Road on March 22.

Mader had denied the offence but was found guilty at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on November 25.

He was given six penalty points and a £150 fine. Magistrates also ordered him to pay a victim services fund charge of £34 and £300 prosecution costs.

Daniel Benet, 42, of Hurstwood Avenue, Pilgrims Hatch, was charged with using a mobile on London Road in Brentwood on July 9.

He admitted the offence and was sentenced at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on November 5.

Benet was handed six penalty points but avoided a totting disqualification due to mitigating circumstances of caring for family members.

He was also fined £110 and must pay a £34 victim services fund and £105 prosecution costs.