Jimmy Carr has escaped a conviction for using his mobile phone while driving, because he said he was using it to dictate a joke.

The comic avoided a £60 fine and three points thanks to his lawyer Nick Freeman, the solicitor known as Mr Loophole.

Police saw Carr using his iPhone behind the wheel of his Bentley in January. but Freeman told Harrow magistrates that he was not making a call.

Freeman said the law regarding mobile phones always refers to them being used as two-way devices, but using the phone as a Dictaphone was not illegal,

Outside court, Carr told reporters: 'This is a serious thing… this is no time for jokes.’