THOUSANDS of company drivers face the sack if they make hands-free phone calls while they are on the road.
More than a quarter of companies with vehicle fleets have banned their drivers from making hands-free calls and warned them they face dismissal if they breach the ban, a survey has found.
The ban has been imposed by some of Britain’s biggest firms such as Shell and BP, which have thousands of road tankers in the UK.
The survey of 220 vehicle fleet firms by Brake, a road safety charity, found that 28% had banned hands-free calls while 14% monitored drivers’ mobile phone use to ensure they complied with the rules.
A recent study by the Transport Research Laboratory found that found hands-free use slows reaction times by 27% — more than double the effect of alcohol (13%) and worse than cannabis (21%). Research in New Zealand concluded hands-free conversations were more

Man Drives Into Pool As Flip Flops Get Tangled

The car shoots out the elderly man’s garage into the swimming pool after his footwear gets caught up in the accelerator.
A man has driven his car into his own swimming pool after getting his flip flops tangled up in the pedals.
The man, believed to be in his 80s, escaped unharmed after his white sedan shot through the back door of his garage and into the pool in Los Angeles.
Police said the man managed to extricate himself from the car before rescue services arrived at the property in the 2700 block of Scripps Place, Altadena.
There was nobody in the pool at the time, officers added.
Captain Jeffrey Sims, of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, told CBS that the man’s sandals got caught in the car’s pedals and he was unable to brake.