Free Traffic Legal Advice

In the light of the points for speeding. I suspect the TC Will not offer much sympathy or leeway in this case. Which is unfortunate. I'm not sure exactly how they know, but I suspect they will have access to all the license databases and will know of every endorsement a driver in front of them has.

Also one more piece of advice, Install teams on your device and make sure everything is working BEFORE you try to log onto the meeting. Teams is awful if you don't set it up right and plenty of folks I have worked with have missed important meetings because they did not set up teams before use.

The powers of the TC are vastly under appreciated. As a driver I had no idea personally. As Foxy says, they will pay heeled to behaviors on the road, with conviction or not. The driver I spoke to who handled his phone in the cab and got the 5 day suspension did not get a criminal conviction.

The TC can also take action on convictions too. One driver I know was on frount of the TC for a conviction for a non driving related crime. He got a verbal warning.

Back to the OP's post, I suspect conviction or not, holding or changing music on the lap the TC will suspend the licence for anywhere from 5 days to 4 weeks, hopefully with no other conditions.

So the TC is an interesting one. Not been in front of them myself (I drove PCV and work elsewhere in the industry now) But have had to study them and learn for CPC related reasons. One thing I would say off the beat, is TC driver hearings are generally open to the public, so if you want to go with your Son to watch what goes on, you can do (unless it states it's closed doors on the day) and there's the possibly that he may not be speaking to the actual TC, but a deputy on the day. Deputy's have the same power as the TC itself mind, so that point's rather moot.

My understanding is there are solicitors that deal with the TC as well, but unless you're looking at a revocation of the license or a winnable argument, I wouldn't bother personally.

The TC generally tends to take four courses of action depending on what's going on. No action, A verbal warning, A suspension or a revocation of the license. Generally we could rule out revocation and no action as they are the extreme end of the scale for both ends if you will.

The fact your son was driving and I assume, moving at the time will make this most likely lean towards as Newjudge said, towards the 4 week period. Length of service may come into account too with the TC potentially being more harsh based on less experience. One driver I spoke to who had been in front of the TC for mobile phone use (Looking at a bus stop, doors open handbrake on) was given a ban of 5 days instead of 4 weeks due to 27 years of service with no issues, this particular issue also being a report from the company (Most companies are obliged to inform the TC of these actions as part of operator license related duties)

On a note as well, with how the TC is (to my admittedly only researched and spoken to drivers viewpoint) the fact the phone was in the lap shouldn't reduce the violation. Coach/Bus/Lorry drivers shouldn't have the phone on anything but a cradle in a cab period.

This may be useful for a read to give you a heads up on how things work along with some other info
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-driver-conduct-hearings/a-guide-to-driver-conduct-hearings

IF you want to see what kind of examples of punishments that have been meted out, this is on the government website as well, however it does not include why they were at the TC, just the punishment.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulatory-decisions-made-about-the-conduct-of-professional-drivers


Not really sure of anything else truth be told, I made an account just to respond to this post