Every driver in a crash will have their mobile seized in a bid to cut deaths caused by phoning and texting at the wheel.

Police have been ordered to check if motorists broke the law by using their phones in the moments before any accident.

The move is likely to see mobiles being taken away by officers as evidence in prosecutions.

Police chiefs believe it is necessary to combat the growing numbers killed or seriously injured because drivers are distracted.

The move was welcomed last night by charities and pressure groups who have accused police and politicians of failing to make road safety a priority.

But one expert said he feared officers may not always show common sense and drivers could lose their phone after a ‘minor car park shunt’.

Others warned that confiscating phones could delay the recovery of crashed vehicles that pose a hazard and prevent victims contacting relatives.

The advice to check phones at the roadside was issued to officers by Gloucestershire Chief Constable Suzette Davenport.

Miss Davenport, who is responsible for roads policing at the Association of Chief Police Officers, said she is determined to reduce mobile-related accidents.

The phone checks will apply to any accident. Previously they were made only in accidents where people were killed or seriously injured.

There have been growing calls for the Government to do more to stop drivers using phones at the wheel.

More than 500 people are estimated to be killed or seriously injured in the UK every year because car and lorry drivers were texting, responding to emails or posting messages on social networks.

Earlier this month Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin announced that he is considering doubling the punishment for those caught texting at the wheel to six penalty points.

‘The amount of casualties has been absolutely appalling,’ he said. ‘We’ve got to change this.’ 
 Official figures for 2012 show the use of a mobile phone at the wheel as a ‘contributory factor’ in only one fatal accident in 100.

But Professor Stephen Glaister, of the RAC Foundation, said that, from what many standing at the roadside report, this is a considerable underestimate of the true figure.

‘More systematic checking of drivers’ phone records after a crash would... send out a message that police are taking this matter seriously and people who flout the law will be caught,’ he said. 

AA president Edmund King said drivers do not realise their mobile phone records provide an ‘incriminating track’ of what they were doing.

He said: ‘The current deterrent just isn’t working. Many drivers seem addicted to their phones and just can’t resist looking at a text or tweet at the wheel. We need a concerted effort to crack this addiction with harsher penalties linked to an information and enforcement campaign.’ 

Hugh Bladon, of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: ‘I am 100 per cent against anyone texting while driving, and those caught deserve everything they get.

'But I’m worried police could overdo it, just because someone is involved in a minor shunt, surely it shouldn’t mean they should lose their phone.’

Ed Morrow, of road safety charity Brake, said mobile phones are a ‘menace on our roads’ with many drivers flouting the law.

‘We are fully supportive of the efforts by the police to clamp down on mobile phone use at the wheel,’ he said. ‘Offenders need to know they will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and there will be serious consequences.’ 

Drivers caught using a hand-held phone at the wheel to call or text face a fixed penalty notice of £100 and three points on their licence.

Those who cause a crash and kill someone while using a phone could face up to 14 years in prison, but the vast majority of sentences are much shorter.

In 2012, more than 10,000 drivers caught using their phone at the wheel opted to take a road safety course instead of the points.

Last year Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the country’s most senior police officer, said drivers caught twice using a phone at the wheel should be banned.