Digital tachographs can be set to default to whatever the company wants when the ignition is switched off, when digital tachographs first became compulsory for new vehicles in 2006 all digital tachographs defaulted to other work when the ignition was switched off, a couple of years later the rules were changed so that they could be set to default to rest.
The situation now is that a digital tachograph can be set to default to whatever mode a company wants, apart from driving obviously.
When you get into a vehicle you’re not familiar with, after inserting your driver card it’s worth trying the tachograph to see what it defaults to when the ignition is switched off.
If your tachograph defaults to other work when the ignition is switched off and you want to switch the ignition on and off again while on break or rest, when you switch the ignition off you’ll notice that the mode symbol on the tachograph display is flashing, it will flash for 5 seconds and in that time you can change it to whatever mode you want without it affecting what’s recorded on your driver card, so change it back to break while the mode symbol is still flashing and you will find that your break hasn’t been interrupted.
An endless source of useful information Tachograph. Thanks! 
muckles:
Are you a trainer or a driver with a photographic memory? 
Driver, well retired driver to be exact.
muckles:
To sign up to a Truck driver forum with a moniker of Tachograph could be a asking for a fall,
If you mean my user-name it has nothing to do with tachographs or the regulations, I came back to HGV driving after over 20 years away from it and knew next to nothing about the regulations, in fact that’s one of the reasons I joined this forum.
When I registered here I just happened to be sorting some tachograph charts (remember them ) and having no imagination for user-names the thing I was holding became my user-name, it could have been much worse 
muckles:
but as far as I know nobody has tripped you up yet.
I’ve got things wrong on plenty of occasions, but don’t tell anyone else about that 
Thought it might be time to bump this up again.
Might prove helpful for those starting out driving trucks.
It’s also available as a word doc or pdf, which can be printed off and put in a file and used for reference.
If you’d like that send us a PM with your email address and the format you want (Word doc or pdf) I’ll send you a copy when I get a chance, sometimes might take a day or 2 depending how busy I am.
F-reds:
Such an incredibly handy tool for a new driver, just to boil down the basics into a format that is not the snorefest of GV262.
Well done!
Agreed. Well done Muckles
So glad i found this thread,ive been trying to get my head around the official drivers hours guides but i kept getting a headache.
This has made it loads easier to understand,a huge thank you sir!
just wanted to add my thanks to muckles and all the other contributors for taking the time and making available this easier to understand version of the regs.
This is helping me get my head around it all thank you for taking the time to do this [emoji106]
I’m pleased this seems to be helping some of you with understanding the regs. They do seem a bit daunting when you start, along with many other things you need to get your head round when you first start driving.
Lloydie:
This is helping me get my head around it all thank you for taking the time to do this [emoji106]
I’ve sent you a copy of the regs as requested.
im still unsure of this bit of the regs 
especilly the bit where the remainder has to be made up at the end of 4th week .
so if i have two reduced weekly rests in a four week periord ,will i have to take 62 hour rest at the end of the 4th week?
or
45-24-45-46
“• Minimum Weekly Rest 45 hours, can be reduced to a minimum of 24 hours every other week, but the remainder of the hours have to be made up by the end of the 4th week following the reduction.
• Maximum of 144 hours between weekly rest periods, (6 x 24 hours)”
Lloydie:
im still unsure of this bit of the regs especilly the bit where the remainder has to be made up at the end of 4th week .
so if i have two reduced weekly rests in a four week periord ,will i have to take 62 hour rest at the end of the 4th week?
“• Minimum Weekly Rest 45 hours, can be reduced to a minimum of 24 hours every other week, but the remainder of the hours have to be made up by the end of the 4th week following the reduction.
• Maximum of 144 hours between weekly rest periods, (6 x 24 hours)”
You only have to make up the hours for the reduced rest that you took 4 weeks earlier, you can wait another couple of weeks to make up the other one, as that would would only have been a couple of weeks before, so you still have time to make up those hours.
also a reduced weekly rest period is anything less than 45 hours and more than 24 hours. So if you had a reduced weekly rest of 40 hours you only have to make up 5 hours.
This can be added to any weekly or daily rest period, but you must make up all the hours for that reduced rest period in one go.
I’m going to have to look how I worded that 4 weeks thing.
muckles:
Lloydie:
im still unsure of this bit of the regs especilly the bit where the remainder has to be made up at the end of 4th week .
so if i have two reduced weekly rests in a four week periord ,will i have to take 62 hour rest at the end of the 4th week?
“• Minimum Weekly Rest 45 hours, can be reduced to a minimum of 24 hours every other week, but the remainder of the hours have to be made up by the end of the 4th week following the reduction.
• Maximum of 144 hours between weekly rest periods, (6 x 24 hours)”
You only have to make up the hours for the reduced rest that you took 4 weeks earlier, you can wait another couple of weeks to make up the other one, as that would would only have been a couple of weeks before, so you still have time to make up those hours.
also a reduced weekly rest period is anything less than 45 hours and more than 24 hours. So if you had a reduced weekly rest of 40 hours you only have to make up 5 hours.
This can be added to any weekly or daily rest period, but you must make up all the hours for that reduced rest period in one go.
I’m going to have to look how I worded that 4 weeks thing.
now that has cleared it up perfectly for me thank you
Have taken a copy thanks…
Brilliant thanks for posting this.
Great bit of info on this strange taco thingy
Many thanks for the detailed guide
Is it worth this being made a sticky? Then its easy to find for reference and any new members see it on the first page?
Personally I think if you’ve having to make up for reduced weekly rests, it’s time for a new job!
But that could just be me…
Sent via TPN, so it’s either lost, damaged or late…
Now this will certainly come in handy for my first few shifts thanks brilliant stuff
Evil8Beezle:
Personally I think if you’ve having to make up for reduced weekly rests, it’s time for a new job!
But that could just be me…
Sent via TPN, so it’s either lost, damaged or late…
Maybe but sometimes it’s a question of getting a job getting experience then finding something better.
And I still have to use reduced weekly rests, even just a 24hr rest sometimes just to reset my week, but I get it back in spadeloads at other times.
PS anybody want an easy copy to print off just pm me your email address and I’ll send you a copy. No catch, no fee, I just remember my first few months of truck driving, with so much to remember to do and having a reference doc for the regulations was one less thing to keep in my head.