Priest joins council Zoom meeting while driving to funeral
A priest was caught illegally using his phone to attend a council meeting on Zoom while driving to a funeral.
Father Malcolm Lane was seen behind the wheel when he appeared on the virtual meeting on Monday.
The Monmouthshire Tory Councillor was asked what he was doing, to which he responded: “I’m actually off to conduct a funeral but I’m listening intently.”
Fr Lane, who has been the councillor for Mardy since 2017, was due to speak about dental clinics at the meeting of the council’s public services scrutiny committee.
But when he logged onto the meeting, he was filming from below as he was driving.
Cllr Armand Watts, the Labour chairman of the committee, asked: “Malcolm, I’ve just got an observation here, are you driving?”
Fr Lane replied: “Yeah, I’m driving. I’m actually off to conduct a funeral but I’m listening intently.”
Cllr Watts then said: “Hmm, wait a minute, one second,” before speaking to the committee clerk.
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Those caught using a handheld phone while driving can face a fine of up to £200 and six penalty points on their driving licence.
Cllr Watts then said: “Malcolm, my advice to you because I’m not sure where you are, obviously you’ve got important business this morning, would be to possibly pull over if you can.
“Just turn your camera off maybe.”
Fr Lane said: “Yeah, I will.”
The meeting was uploaded to YouTube by Monmouthshire County Council.
Fr Lane told The Telegraph: “It was a pure accident. I thought I had turned my camera off as I wished to just listen to the dentistry report. It was just a simple accident.
“My mobile phone was lying flat in the middle of the car [so] I would not see it.The chair was aware that I apparently was on camera and asked me to pull in which I did.
“There was no way I was viewing the meeting. That’s exactly how it happened.”