Police issued more than 1,600 penalty notices to West Midlands drivers for using their mobile phones behind the wheel last year.

But they warn that it still happens every day on the region’s roads – and back a driving ban for those who continue to flout the law.

West Midlands motorists were the tenth worst offenders in Britain for illegally using mobiles in their cars, latest figures reveal.

A Freedom of Information request discovered that the Metropolitan Police issued the most fixed penalty notices last year. But the number of penalty notices handed out across the country has dropped by almost a quarter since 2013 – falling from 95,941 to 72,753.

The reduction has been credited to forces using driver re-education courses instead.

These are paid for by the first-time offenders who can take part instead of receiving points on their licence.

Chief Inspector Kerry Blakeman from West Midlands Police said: “Our approach is zero tolerance and to issue a fixed penalty notice.

“We do look at the antecedents of the driver. If they have no antecedents, they are eligible for the course and may be willing to participate.

“A number of people go on the course as an alternative to a prosecution, and I think they do work. It is very impactive and very powerful.

“But we still see drivers using mobiles day in, day out.

“People know they are breaking the law but just ignore it.”

Chief Insp Blakeman backed calls for driving bans for those who persistently drive whilst using a phone.

“Something has to change because it is such a problem,” he added.

Road safety charity Brake has warned that the latest figures may reflect a “decline in policing resources”.

A Brake spokesman said: “We need traffic policing to be made a national priority, so police have the resources to catch and penalise risky multi-tasking drivers, as well as much higher fines to truly deter phone use by drivers.” In September the mother of an aspiring teacher who was killed by a trucker watching porn on his mobile phone helped West Midlands Police launch a new road safety campaign.

Lisa Thomas said the sight of motorists taking calls at the wheel was like a “knife twisting in my stomach”.

Her daughter Laura, 20, was in a broken-down Vauxhall Astra struck by Birmingham haulier Ian Glover’s lorry on the A5 in Shropshire in July 2013.

Glover, 44, was jailed for five years at Shrewsbury Crown Court last year after admitting dangerous driving.

Mrs Thomas backed the two-week safety campaign launched by officers from the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG).