sent away for mine on thursday.
will let you know when it hits the doorstep.(knowing my postie it will need renewing 
) as to thelead time. really i had no choice as we have a 17 vehicle fleet and 9 of them are fitted with the bloody thiings.
still not happy about waiting a month to get my £38 back 
jon
You’re lucky as you have to pay “only” £40. In Finland we have to pay 103€ for same card (approximately £70). 
I hope that I dont face any truck with digital tachograph as I’m not going to get that card.
Coffeeholic:
robinhood_1984:
if I park up, and after 21 minutes need to shunt forward and then forget to change the mode back, which I’m sure will happen to no end of people, no end of times, I think thats the problem, my exact circumstances have not changed, my current tacho would then revert back to the mode which I PUT IT ON, what my current tacho does not do is once I move, flick to cross hammers and stay there even though I am resuming my break.So change it back to rest then. What is the big problem with pushing a button? I will never understand the drivers who make a big issue of this and seem to take a delight in not changing the mode switch. Like it or not, the tacho and the regulations are part of our job and in the same way we have to abide by the rules of the road when driving, or ensure our vehicles meet legal requirements etc, we have to comply with the tacho rules. If to do that properly means using very little effort to push a button now and again what is the issue?
I know that I will forget to change correct mode. With older tachographs you saw instanly when looking in speedo what mode was selected. In these new ones, which has only tiny symbols hidden above your head, it’s very easy to forget which mode you have chosen. That leads to tacho staying at work during the breaks or in break during the work as anymore you can’t change mode during the drive and you aren’t constantly seeing what mode you are in. I don’t say that this happens to me all the time but it does happen, especially if I have something on my mind when stopping for a break. I don’t even mention about hitting the wrong (eject) button instead of mode change 
Digital tachographs might help this as driver have to only change mode to break after stopping so it’s easier to remember. I think truck manufacturers should put little display on dashboard to show what mode you are currently in, just like with older tachographs.
Spardo:
Now I’ve got a question about these cards.
It seems they have to be issued in the country which issues the driving licence.
In my case France. Does that mean I can still drive British registered trucks?
Even if no-one knows the answer, someone may know if British holders can drive foreign registered trucks. Wheelnut perhaps?
Be daft if it wasn’t so, but I’d like to be sure before I shell out my euros.Salut, David.
As I understand it the card is applied for through your issuing authority, depending on which country you live. I think it might have to be the same authority that issues your current driving licence. So if you live in the UK and have a UK issued licence you apply through the DVLA. The improtant bit for security is that regardless of which authority you apply to, a check is carried out through a central system to ensure that a driver who holds a smart card cannot apply for another in a different country. Going off topic for a second, VOSA will have hand held readers that are also connected to this central system and will be able to check in a matter of seconds at the roadside if a card is genuine.
Once you have your card you can drive any vehicle (assuming your licence covers you for that class of vehicle) if it is fitted with a Digitach regardless of the country that vehicle is registered in.
its still a stealth id card if you ask me.
the public say no to id cards so why should we say yes to these?
It doesn’t matter which member state issues the smart card, they will all work in all the vehicle units, irrespective of country of registration. So a Polish card will work in a UK registered truck, but perhaps we don’t want to start that argument again 
!
The member state where you live for at least 185 days is the one that issues the smart card to the individual. Where the individual works in another member state, then the issuing state will be the one where his/her family ties are. In most cases the card issuer will be the same authority that issues the driving licence as it makes the process easier. Here in the UK it’s DVLA.
The card validity checking system is called TACHONET and allows Police / VOSA to check not only validity of the card that you have but also whether you have reported cards lost / stolen or malfuctioning. They can also check to see if a card has been issued to you when you say that you haven’t applied for one.
Thanks Fish and Geebee that is just as I thought. I was a bit concerned about the time zone thing as someone had said that it only registered the time of the issueing country. That may be a problem at a roadside check in England for instance, if a UK registered truck which has started and finished its journey in the UK, nevertheless has a driver with a card showing CET.
Despite Googling the appropriate French words I cannot find out anything about cost and application procedure in France. Maybe I’ll just toddle along and ask the old boss this week, you never know he may even pay for it, and my FCOS due in May, after all he does buy me a slap-up feed each year 
Salut, David.
Spardo:
Thanks Fish and Geebee that is just as I thought. I was a bit concerned about the time zone thing as someone had said that it only registered the time of the issueing country. That may be a problem at a roadside check in England for instance, if a UK registered truck which has started and finished its journey in the UK, nevertheless has a driver with a card showing CET
That wouldn’t be an issue David because regardless of which country the truck is registered in the tacho will record all activities based on GMT, no more time zones as far as the tacho goes. The driver can choose to display the time as per their ‘home’ time if they wish but that won’t alter the recording time.
This could of course lead to some confusion, as for half the year the tacho time and real time will be two hours different for most west European countries. On the plus side no more having to remember to change the tacho clock when the clocks change.
Coffeeholic wrote;
That wouldn’t be an issue David because regardless of which country the truck is registered in the tacho will record all activities based on GMT, no more time zones as far as the tacho goes.
Beg to differ but digital tachos use UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) whilst it could be considered to be the same as GMT, there is a very small difference, like fractions of a second. All digital tachos will record time relevent to UTC no matter what ‘offset’ time the driver chooses to display on the unit. The real confusion will come when you want to put manual entries on the card; they have to be done in UTC not local time. More confusion when driving analogue and digital in the same week. Vehicles fitted with analogue tachos will still use time in country of registration.
True, but UTC is a modern continuation of GMT and for the average person in the street the difference is so small that GMT and UTC are almost one and the same thing. In most cases GMT is still commonly used, albeit incorrectly, when referring to civil time keeping.
Fractions of a second don’t really come into the tacho rules.
geebee45:
More confusion when driving analogue and digital in the same week. Vehicles fitted with analogue tachos will still use time in country of registration.
Thanks again Geebee and Neil, that is good news indeed, but the above could cause real problems for some. Not just within the same week, some people jump from one vehicle to another several times in the same day - nightmare
Of course there is a simple solution which because it is simple is obviously the reason it hasn’t been adopted 
.
They could have included in the EU legislation the requirement for all tachos, analogue and digital, to be set to UTC from 1st January 2006.
When I get to see the old patron and find out the cost of the French cards, I’ll post it up so you can all have a good gloat 
…or grimace .
Salut, David.