I’ve noticed that quite a few drivers I’ve been out with seem happy to pull the card a few miles from depot to avoid exceeding daily hours or getting stuck out, and I was wondering what the score is with this?
I was driver’s mate to one of the Class 1 drivers today (so unable to take over) and we’re 5 mins from the yard with 8 mins left on the tacho. Looks like we’re going to be fine but then we hit traffic at a roundabout - really bad luck at this time of night as roads were dead everywhere else. Driver mutters a few expletives and pulls out card saying nobody will notice a few mins as the shunters don’t use cards.
I’d have thought that anybody with a brain would realise that shunters don’t drive for 6 mins straight, covering a couple of km. Or is 6 mins missing mileage a total non event?
It’s a stupid thing to do, as said once in a blue moon they might get away with it, if they have a bump then they are going to live to regret it big time.
DVSA are two things, 1. is fair minded IMHO (so long as you don’t take the ■■■■) and 2. they are far from fools, take them for fools and they’ll metaphorically kick your arse from here to kingdom come.
If unexpected traffic bollockses you up, just leave the card in, do a couple of printouts and write on the back the reason for going over, so long as they can see what you’ve done, that you haven’t tried conceal it, and most importantly you don’t make a habit of it, you’ll be fine.
I’ve been pulled with a previous week’s card showing an 18 hour shift, stuck on M11 with peculiar size trailer blowout for many hours, got a weight tug the following week and they were right as rain about the over hours, because, i hadn’t tried to cover it up, i’d written the reason why on the back of the disc, and it was a one off, always found them fair.
The traffic commissioners have stated publicly that if a driver has an issue and runs over but records it in detail on the back of a printout, they are highly unlikely to take any action.
As soon as a card is pulled they believe that the driver has something to hide and will revoke the vocational license for each occasion. If it is multiple times then the revocation can be permanent.
Only a fool would pull their card.
Juddian:
I’ve been pulled with a previous week’s card showing an 18 hour shift, stuck on M11 with peculiar size trailer blowout for many hours, got a weight tug the following week and they were right as rain about the over hours, because, i hadn’t tried to cover it up, i’d written the reason why on the back of the disc, and it was a one off, always found them fair.
What seems like a long time ago here I posted about getting my first tug. At the time the company didn’t have an o licence. I also said the DVSA/VOSA blokes were relly friendly with me. And I was called a liar for saying this.
To this day I think they are mostly decent blokes doing their job because of that. They knew I was as green as grass - and even took the time to give me some advice. They answered my questions and were nothing other than polite and helpful. Even said if I was unsure about weights to tell owner either it was weighbridge or that he should say in writing he’d pay the fines. Rather than giving me a textbook answer they were trying to help me in the real world.
Even with the lack of o licence - one pulled me aside and said this 100% was not my problem. That I could drive on - and the only come back if the company (not me) could be reported again if stopped. They didn’t want to stitch me up or leave me stranded as a new driver. Some of them may be difficult - but in my limited experience I’d say they were spot on.
Half the battle is if you pass the attitude test, ie don’t be a smart arse, made a genuine mistake or bolloxed up accidentally? then almost always they’ll give you advice, it’s when you deliberately try to cover an issue up they’ll look really deep and a long way back, and then the company get a visit and they go through the lot.
I too have never had a problem with them, but then i don’t take the ■■■■.
It’s good to hear that VOSA are reasonable people in general. When I’d just started driving I was working for a pallet company who took the ■■■■ with the planning and I was always running close to the line to get to my timed drops.
I got a few infringements where I’d gone over my 4.5 by a couple of minutes for things like not being able to find somewhere to park or having to queu to park up at depot. Nowadays I won’t attempt it if it’s really close to the line, especially now that I’m on longer distance routes to places I’ve often never delivered to, frequently including parts of London where finding a place to stop can be difficult. It annoys the driver’s mates who are on job and knock but I refuse to risk it nowadays.
Actually, one thing I was going to ask was how long till you’re generally in the clear (if such a thing happens)?
I’m really careful about infringements nowadays but I worry about my first company getting audited. Some of their drivers had racked up 100+ infringements within 12 months and that makes me speculate they’d be a target for people like VOSA. Also loads of bad practice like not strapping heavy loads - ton bags of gravel/tiles etc.
I’ve generally not taken the ■■■■ but I understand that VOSA often go the whole hog when trying to catch a bent company - like the case I read about on here where a guy was being prosecuted for two instances of going over his 4.5 by two mins each time.
Now that I’ve got my ducks in a row I’d hate to get pulled on infringements I got almost a year ago.
Tailschwing:
Actually, one thing I was going to ask was how long till you’re generally in the clear (if such a thing happens)?
I’m really careful about infringements nowadays but I worry about my first company getting audited. Some of their drivers had racked up 100+ infringements within 12 months and that makes me speculate they’d be a target for people like VOSA. Also loads of bad practice like not strapping heavy loads - ton bags of gravel/tiles etc.
I’ve generally not taken the ■■■■ but I understand that VOSA often go the whole hog when trying to catch a bent company - like the case I read about on here where a guy was being prosecuted for two instances of going over his 4.5 by two mins each time.
Now that I’ve got my ducks in a row I’d hate to get pulled on infringements I got almost a year ago.
You will be fine.
The bit in bold - where did you read that? Because their own enforcement handbook says that unless it’s over 15 mins or all the time they will let it go. A bloke called tachograph on here posted the link to this a while ago. People say a lot when it comes to driving… Both on here and in person. The reality is often missing from this stuff though.
Ultimately - they will not be interested in a few minutes a year ago. At worst they would ask and you’d say you didn’t like operating like that so moved on. They are not out to get you. They will go after people who take massive liberties or try and play games with them. A normal driver doing his best has little to be worried about in my opinion.
Tailschwing:
Actually, one thing I was going to ask was how long till you’re generally in the clear (if such a thing happens)?
I’m really careful about infringements nowadays but I worry about my first company getting audited. Some of their drivers had racked up 100+ infringements within 12 months and that makes me speculate they’d be a target for people like VOSA. Also loads of bad practice like not strapping heavy loads - ton bags of gravel/tiles etc.
I’ve generally not taken the ■■■■ but I understand that VOSA often go the whole hog when trying to catch a bent company - like the case I read about on here where a guy was being prosecuted for two instances of going over his 4.5 by two mins each time.
Now that I’ve got my ducks in a row I’d hate to get pulled on infringements I got almost a year ago.
You will be fine.
The bit in bold - where did you read that? Because their own enforcement handbook says that unless it’s over 15 mins or all the time they will let it go. A bloke called tachograph on here posted the link to this a while ago. People say a lot when it comes to driving… Both on here and in person. The reality is often missing from this stuff though.
Ultimately - they will not be interested in a few minutes a year ago. At worst they would ask and you’d say you didn’t like operating like that so moved on. They are not out to get you. They will go after people who take massive liberties or try and play games with them. A normal driver doing his best has little to be worried about in my opinion.
at DHL it’s an infringement if you go ONE MINUTE over!..no excuses.
I suspect a lot is caused by the attitude of the company to minor infringements.
The only time i got non WTD infringements of 4 mins over and a very obvious mistake with a manual entry, you’d think I’d killed kittens being carried by nuns the way the compliance guy reacted.
With that kindof attitude I could imagine people being tempted to just risk it for a few mins. Esp when people start giving them the possible “diseplinery action” crap.
Anyone who does it needs to rethink their job as they are not planning far enough in advance.
And if you get caught in genuine traffic then a print out with an explanation should suffice unless we are talking more than a short amount of time to get to a safe place.
Where i work you will get an infringement for 1 minute over without fail, everything has to be spot on, maintenance schedules the lot, that’s why they have a squeaky clean reputation and we never get bothered by the wheeltappers.
However, they don’t expect us to fly about or drive up to 4hr 29m before stopping for a break, nor do they plan us 14hr 59m (assuming the roads are empty) bloody days.
