alrite peps, im off early in the mornin for a coupla days and me and my gaff are awaer there is a fault with my card…
aparentlly, he says i can still drive it without the card, just keeping a log of my driving hours an taking a printout before i start an when i finish… is this ok with the ministry■■?
also the card is reading card error 50? anyone guesstamate what this error code is? (is it with the card or with the machine)■■?
muchus thanks 
dan
From what i have read you must post your card within 7 days of the fault occuring and must have a record of it being sent away to dvla and you are allowed to drive without 1 for 15days but you must make a print out at the start of your journey and at the end and also sign them.
Geordieboy is correct.
You must apply for a new card within seven days (DVLA will issue a new one within 5 days). You may continue to drive for up to 15 days (Or longer if you are unable to return to base within this time) but you should do a manual print out before and after each daily working period.
The difference between the two printouts is a record of your daily work.
All errors are assigned an error code. Not sure what 50 is but I wouldn’t worry about that it is probably just the code for a defective card
as for the manual entries I would carry some manuals tacho’s & fill out the back as you go, gotta be better than jotting down ties & modes on a plain peice of paper.
As has already been said you can use the vehicle for a maximum of 15 days as long as you keep printout records, I think you need to do a vehicle 24 hour printout before starting the journey and another at the end of the shift and writing on the printouts your name driver card number, any activity such as other work ec’t that’s not recorded and then signing it
It’s probably too late by the time you read this but try cleaning the card with soft material, I’ve had this problem and solved it by simply cleaning the face of the card, pay particular attention to the chip, if my memory serves me correctly error 50 is the faulty driver card error, in fact I’m reasonably sure it is, you won’t get any indication of what the fault is - just error 50.
You should be able to do printouts for the vehicle without the driver card and these are the records you need to keep.
The regulations state:
When the driver card is lost, stolen or is malfunctioning a driver may continue to
drive a vehicle equipped with a digital tachograph for a maximum period of 15 days
(or longer if necessary to complete a journey back to base).
For the duration of this period, when the driver card cannot record data, the driver must produce a printed record of their activities using the digital tachograph as follows:
(a) At the start of each journey the driver will print out the details of the vehicle
being used and note on the printout:
(i) Details that enable the driver to be identified:
- name
- driver card or driver’s licence number
- signature.
(ii) Details of activity undertaken before the journey started:- all periods of other work
- periods of availability
- breaks and daily rest periods taken since the last record was made.
(b) At the end of the journey- the driver will print out the information relating to periods of time
recorded by the recording equipment- record any periods of other work, availability and rest undertaken since
the printout that was made at the start of the journey where these have
not been recorded by the tachograph, and
Note on that document details that enable the driver to be identified:- name
- driver card or driver’s licence number
- signature.
The driver must begin using the replacement driver smart card as soon as
they receive it.
Is the paper roll used in a digi printer like the paper used in fax machines? I realise it is smaller 
but is it thermal paper which fades in about 2 weeks
It is thermal paper, but I don’t think it fades in 2weeks, but if it gets exposed to heat or wet etc then it will get ruined.
When it happend to me, called up DVLA to let them know card wasnt working and they noted it down there and then, so i guess it was on some computer or system right there and then, so if i got stoped driving without a digi tacho card would be a note of it.
Wheel Nut:
Is the paper roll used in a digi printer like the paper used in fax machines? I realise it is smaller
As said it is thermal paper but I’ve still got printouts from December 96 and you would think they’d just been printed, so no they don’t fade.
Having said that I guess it probably depends on the quality of the paper used, but the Siemens paper doesn’t seem to fade at all.