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Family plea for tougher sentences Mother calls for text driving ban
(about 1 hour later)
The family of a woman killed by a driver who was sending a text message is campaigning for tougher laws for motorists caught using mobile phones.The family of a woman killed by a driver who was sending a text message is campaigning for tougher laws for motorists caught using mobile phones.
Philippa Curtis, 21, smashed into the back of a stationary car at 70mph on the A40 in Oxfordshire, killing 24-year-old Victoria McBryde.Philippa Curtis, 21, smashed into the back of a stationary car at 70mph on the A40 in Oxfordshire, killing 24-year-old Victoria McBryde.
Ms McBryde's mother, Jennifer Ford, and her sister Charlotte McBryde said more needed to be done to deter drivers. Ms McBryde's mother Jennifer Ford said texting should be treated like drink driving and lead to an automatic ban.
They want anyone caught using their mobile to get an automatic ban. The family also want offenders to get a heavy fine and points on their licence.
The family also want offenders to get a heavy fine and face the possibility of a prison sentence. Currently, anyone caught using a mobile phone while driving is given a £60 fine and gets three penalty points on their licence.
They are are running an online petition on the Downing Street website, Facebook and Twitter. "This is not a deterrent," Ms Ford told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Currently, anyone caught using a mobile phone while driving is given a £60 fine and gets three penalty points on their driving licence. "It should be the same as drink driving.
"I have been left with a black hole in my heart."
Curtis, of Bury St Edmunds, was found to have sent 20 texts and had taken two phone calls before crashing in November 2007.Curtis, of Bury St Edmunds, was found to have sent 20 texts and had taken two phone calls before crashing in November 2007.
She was sentenced to 21 months in jail and given a three-year driving ban. However, the Attorney General is currently reviewing the sentence. One unopened text was on her phone and it is thought she was trying to look at it when her car ploughed into Miss McBryde's car.
She was sentenced to 21 months in jail and given a three-year driving ban for causing death by dangerous driving.
The Attorney General is currently reviewing the sentence.
Her lawyers said she and her family are "distraught" over what happened and are "desperately sorry".
Ms Ford and her daughter Charlotte are running an online petition on the Downing Street website, Facebook and Twitter to try to get a change in the law.