TOUGHER sanctions for drivers using mobile phones at the wheel are set to be brought in, government sources have revealed.

Ministers are looking at doubling the punishment for illegal mobile phone use, raising it to six penalty points and a £200 fine.

The new plans would mean young drivers would lose their licence the first time they are caught using a mobile phone.

It comes just days after the father of an Oxfordshire teenager killed by a dangerous driver said he would not rest until stricter penalties for drivers caught using phones were enforced.

Paul Baker’s daughter Liberty died when she was hit by a car driven by Robert Blackwell in June 2014.

Blackwell, who was jailed for four years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving, received a text message moments before his car mounted a kerb in Curbridge Road in Witney and hit Liberty, 14.

Last night transport secretary Chris Grayling pledged to introduce the harsher punishment as soon as possible.

He said: "As technology develops, mobile phones are common place, but we need to take responsibility for our actions and as drink or drug driving has become socially unacceptable, so must using mobile phones at the wheel."

Motorists caught using a mobile are currently given three penalty points and a minimum £100 fine.