Drivers are still flouting the rules on making mobile phone calls on the roads of Kingston, putting their own lives and others at risk.

Last year 1,544 people were caught out by coppers chatting on their phones or sending texts behind the wheel - only four of the other 32 London boroughs had a worse record.

The figures released by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, who was photographed making calls on both a bike and in a car in separate occasions last year, after a question from Green Party assembly member Jenny Jones.

She said: "Driving while using a mobile phone can be more dangerous than drink driving and is completely reckless behaviour.

"It is shocking that in the last two years some boroughs have hardly made any improvement in enforcing the mobile phone ban.

“Some boroughs are clearly taking this issue more seriously than others but the police must enforce this consistently across the capital."

Either more people are ignoring the rules which can lead to a £60 fine and three penalty points, or police are cracking down on the offence.

The numbers are up from 1,717 in 2006/07, following the London-wide trend and include using a mobile phone while supervising a learner driver.

According to the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents, they are four times more likely to crash, injuring or killing themselves or other people.

The worst offenders in London were found in Westminster where more than 5,000 people have broken the law. By contrast Redbridge in north east London only caught 150 drivers on their phones.