OK, once again I have what some people will class as an obvious question, but I just want to be sure I’m doing things right before I start work tomorrow.
I have gone over the digital tachograph questions in both CPC and theory test questions, but when I went to watch the tutorials on Youtube, it kind of threw me off a bit, I just don’t get what all these manual entries are for, as I thought the digi taco just recorded everything itself. I thought it’s a case of before you start your shift, enter your card, set it to “other work” whilst you do your vehicle checks. So once your vehicle checks are done, you set off driving, won’t the tachograph machine then record the driving automatically? Do I need to manually input any data? I get that when I stop, say, to unload, I put it to “POA” via the mode button, but is that it? Once I start driving again, will it automatically set it back to driving? The only time I thought I needed to manually input data, was when I’m either POA or taking a break?
Sorry for the noobish question, I just don’t want to be having to ask these questions when I start work, I want to look and be as professional as I can, once I’ve gone over it, I’ll be fine. I did have a look at and a mess about with an analogue tachograph during my training, but not a digital one.
In some circumstances, e.g.
-you start working significantly before you get in your cab
-you finish work significantly after you leave your cab
-you forgot to put it on rest at the end of the day and it thinks you have done “other work” all night or all weekend
…you need to tell the thing what really happened and do a manual entry.
Depending on your circumstances you may not need manual entries at all, especially if you are careful to put it on rest at the end of the shift.
Yes, driving is always recorded.
In general, card in, check on other work, do vehicle checks, drive. Put on rest for breaks. At end of day put on rest, wait a minute or two then eject. How you record loading / unloading will depend on the specific circumstances and how your boss wants it recorded!
You know when you’re doing your checks or unloading, do you set it to POA or other work? Also, am I right in thinking that POA doesn’t count to your overall driving time? For e.g, I could work 12 hours, as long as 3 of those hours are POA? I get a lot of this stuff off my dad, who’s been driving lorries for 40 years, so not sure if his advice is too old school and out of date!
For the EU regulations driving time is time recorded by the tachograph as driving, basically driving time is the time the wheels are turning.
You can do 9 hours driving time per shift, that can be extended to 10 hours driving time twice a week, that’s actual driving time which does not include breaks or other work or POA.
When you’re working but not driving you should have the tachograph on other work, when the vehicle starts moving the tachograph will automatically change to driving then when the vehicle stops moving the tachograph will automatically change back to other work.
Put the tachograph on other work at the start of the shift and the only time you need to change the tachograph mode again is when you book break or POA.
When you’re doing vehicle checks or loading/unloading the tachograph should be on other work not POA, if the vehicle is being loaded and you’re able to sit back and relax you can use break.
You put manual entries into the tachograph at the start of a shift to manually record any work you may have done before inserting the card or after ejecting the card at the end of the previous shift.
For instance lets say you eject the driver card at 17:00 then go into the office to hand in your keys and possibly do a debrief, you then finish work and go home at 17:30.
That’s 30 minutes work that you haven’t recorded on your driver card, so you would do a manual entry to cover it next time you insert your driver card in a digital tachograph.
Like, tonight I start driving at 12, but because it’s my first day, they want me in at 10 to show me the ropes. So when I get in the cab at 12, I’ll manually input that I started at 10? That would go down as “other work” ? And that time doesn’t count toward the 9 or 10 hours drive time?
Bit nervous about tonight! I know I’ll be fine once I get out and about. Quite glad I’m starting at night though, it kind of leaves me room for error with it being my first time since passing my test, I’m going to have to get used to the vehicle, which would have been more daunting in heavy, rush hour traffic!
Sorry to hijack but a quick question regarding what was said above by th2013.
I’ve been getting onto work and Inserting the card first before I do anything, and it records my 30 mins or so of other work before I start driving.
When I return to the yard, the very last thing I do before going home is remove the card, however I do not set it to break before doing this… Should I be? I kinda thought it would automatically assign the time between withdrawl and reinsertion the next day as rest by itself.
109LWB:
When I return to the yard, the very last thing I do before going home is remove the card, however I do not set it to break before doing this… Should I be? I kinda thought it would automatically assign the time between withdrawl and reinsertion the next day as rest by itself.
Setting it to break is another myth the same as a fine per turn of the landing legs.
The way the software works is it will only log complete minutes starting from the end of the last complete minute. If you are 1 second into a recording period of other work it will not register rest until 59 seconds have elapsed - you will then have to wait a further 60 seconds for any rest to be recorded. Its a total waste of time.
Any time the card is not in the machine will be recorded automatically as a ? This time will reset your drive time and counts as your daily/weekly rest period. The reason it doesnt record it as rest is because you may be driving an analogue tacho machine for example.
The new 1.4 version tachos will require you to account for this time manually where either the ? or rest is accepted to account for your rest period.
Good day everyone off topic question just wanted to know I have just changed my address on my driving licence, how do I change my address on digi card and my driver card please thanks.
yas4u:
Good day everyone off topic question just wanted to know I have just changed my address on my driving licence, how do I change my address on digi card and my driver card please thanks.
As long as you’ve changed the address on your licence I don’t think you need to change the address on your driver card, but for confirmation you can phone DVLA on 0300 790 6109.
109LWB:
When I return to the yard, the very last thing I do before going home is remove the card, however I do not set it to break before doing this… Should I be? I kinda thought it would automatically assign the time between withdrawl and reinsertion the next day as rest by itself.
Setting it to break is another myth the same as a fine per turn of the landing legs.
The way the software works is it will only log complete minutes starting from the end of the last complete minute. If you are 1 second into a recording period of other work it will not register rest until 59 seconds have elapsed - you will then have to wait a further 60 seconds for any rest to be recorded. Its a total waste of time.
Any time the card is not in the machine will be recorded automatically as a ? This time will reset your drive time and counts as your daily/weekly rest period. The reason it doesnt record it as rest is because you may be driving an analogue tacho machine for example.
The new 1.4 version tachos will require you to account for this time manually where either the ? or rest is accepted to account for your rest period.
The only reason I put it on rest /break before removal / insertion is if you get distracted and time out it’ll automatically show rest / break and not other work ( I did have that some time ago as I hadn’t inserted manual entries )