Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2006/08/14/mobile_vigilante/

Vigilante targets mobile-abusing drivers

Police investigate slashed tyres

By Lester Haines

Posted in Bootnotes, 14th August 2006 11:53 GMT

Hampshire police are investigating a spate of "vigilante" attacks on cars whose drivers were apparently seen chatting away on their mobiles while on the move, The Telegraph reports.

The "mobile slasher" is believed to make a note of an offender's registration, and then "somehow" tracks the vehicle to the owner's address before slashing the tyres and leaving a "blackmail" style note assembled from letters cut from newspapers on the windscreen. It reads: "Warning. You have been seen driving while using your mobile phone."

Following around 20 attacks in Gosport, Lee-on-the-Solent and Stubbington, police are carying out forensic tests on the notes in the hope of getting a solid lead. They believe the perpetrator may been "the victim of an accident caused by a driver using a mobile telephone", The Telegraph notes. ®