He/she didn't have to give a ticket, a warning and "move along" would have been sufficient.
Cop being a jerk no doubt.
Utter rubbish. We see this all the time in America, for example driving and texting or using your phone with your hand. They passed a law over a year ago in all of Ohio that no longer can you hold your phone while driving and although it was frowned upon, it is now the law, that you can NOT text while driving.
A warning period ensued for law breakers, then, a while back, a fine came into effect of $125 for the first offense, rising after that for each subsequent offense. What a laugh, people are still texting and holding their phones, everywhere you look, while driving their cars.
And people are still being injured and killed because of these law breakers. In the UK it is a thousand pound fine About $1,270. In Europe it is a fine of 1,200 Euros. You hardly ever see anyone texting or holding their phone while driving, anymore. They should do the same in the USA. Hit everyone they catch, very hard the very first time they break that law.
Plus have more officers, if budget allowed, patrolling and pulling over offenders and fining them. THEN you'd see an immediate drop in offenders, it has worked in Europe and the UK. These idiots who do this all the time, driving while distracted. I even see it as I wait for a light in the morning and people are driving through a school zone, above the limit and looking at their phone, not out the front window.
Yes police are strict in the UK and in Europe but for a very good reason, to keep other road users safer. And I am all for that, because twice I've had an oncoming driver nearly hit me head on because they were looking down at their phone. I've also had many drift into my lane because they were texting and not paying attention.
British police are also very kind and do issue warnings but it depends on the offense. However, being an A$$hole and parking on the motorway emergency lane to fly your drone or take a photo is dangerously reckless and these people deserve every penny they are fined and do not deserve any warning.
Warn someone and they think they can get away with it next time too. Hot them hard the first time and they will quickly wake up and think twice about the next time.