I have a sniff of a new job coming up and seeing as it will be my first job in the haulage industry, I thought Id better get a Drivers Tacho Card.
The big question is when everyone got theres, did they have any training or was it just a case of wack it in and play about with the buttons and scroll though the menu’s ■■?
Dont wanna be putting a rest / break when Im really driving
One other thing, I get think I understand the driving hours, ie 4.5hrs driving and either during I can take breaks the equal 45 mins or after I must have a 45mins break before driving again.
My question is whats it with this working time directive ■■? something to do with a break after 6 hours or something, help
Welcome, there is a wealth of info on here, use the search facility.
There is a download for the digi card which explains alot cant remember it at mo, will have a look.
41/2 hrs driving is correct, but can only be broken into one 15min break and then a 30min before starting 41/2 again.
I will be corrected if wrong. Just left the military so having fun with drivers hours and WTD myself
Eddie is correct. They breaks are if you do 4.5 hours driving you must have a 45 minute break but this can be split in to a 15 minute and 30 minute break. Even if you take a first break of 44 minutes then start driving again you still need to have a second break of at least 30 minutes before your driving hours can be reset to 4.5 hours.
As for the digi tacho, try not to worry too much about them mate, they are easy to use. There is no way you can put it to break or other work as you are driving, it automatically sets to driving when you are moving. It will then go back to other work when you stop so if you are on a break you must put it to break. I have heard on here there are some that will go to break instead of other work but I haven’t had that happen to me yet so I cant really comment on it.
The thing to watch is if you put it to POA and have over 45 mins on POA it seems to count this as a break and resets your driving time, but it isn’t legally a break, you will still be limited to a 4.5 hour driving limit. Just keep an eye on it. If at any time you forget what your driving times are and it has reset itself just take a printout and it will tell you at the bottom.
The actual head units are easy to use so don’t worry about that side of it either, but try to find the guide on here it is very good.
As for the 6 hours WTD thing it is if you are doing over 6 hours in a shift and haven’t had a break of at least 15 mins. You need to have taken a break before the 6 hours comes around. If most of your job is driving don’t worry about it as you will probably reach the 4.5 hours first anyway, but if you are multidrop it can soon creep up on you so keep an eye on it.
If you can afford one it might be worth investing in a drivers hour guard (Davey Driver on here invented them) and it is good to keep you on the straight and narrow, there are a few glitches with them but I believe they are in the process of sorting that as we speak.
If you get stuck with the drivers hours there is a forum purely for the safety and legal side of driving further down the home page, just ask in there and someone will help you.
Welcome to the mine field of drivers hours and WTD!
i forgot to mention as well, if you are driving with a digi tacho you need to carry a few spare rolls of paper, your company should supply these, if there isnt any in the cab ask them for some.
i tend to keep a couple in my bag just to be on the safe side, same as spare analogue tacho’s
i drive for agencies and a couple of companies where i have asked for spares have said they didnt have any, i put it on my time sheet at £2.98 per rool and as if by magic some appeared next time i was driving for them!
cant remember it at mo, will have a look. 