Quick question…do you have to keep a printout record of your activities for 28 days by law using a digi tacho…or is the fact that it’s on your card good enough■■?
I only ask because i printed out a load for my agency…and they have sent three back saying i must keep them it’s the law!!!..
I’m wondering who the hell prints them off just to keep…certainly not regular company drivers.
I was always under the impression that you carried a spare roll of tacho paper on ya…so if stopped VOSA or the law…and they wanted to see printouts they could just print off what was required…as did one copper whom stop me the other day…
To which i must say…if you do get stop by plod…say nothing and just play ball…life is so much simpler…and he or she…may somehow not spot everything
When you ZB up, you take a print out, you write on it to explain your ZB up and why. Then you keep the printout under lock and key
When the manure gets taffled up with the air conditioning, the driver, you, has the printout. Why would the agency be interested? The agency dont hold the operators licence. The company you drove for while the ZB up occurred are not interested in an agency driver when VOSA pay them a visit. They will just pass on the drivers details.
Everything that is required is ON the card,it is only if you knowingly have an infringement that you take a printout and write on the back as with a tacho chart which YOU keep for your own records.
and the vehicle keeps the digi record for a whole year! Don’t forget you have to have a spare printout roll with you in case the police or VOSA ask for a printout…and all the previous agency drivers have emptied it out
I got stopped about 4 months ago on A1 near Wetherby at the VOSA weighbridge and I didnt have a spare roll ( nite driver had nicked 2 of them). I had to get another roll that day and print off that days work and fax it over to VOSA by 1pm next day. I asked him what I had to do with the print out after, was I to keep it or hand it in to my office and I was told " that if you do a print out then that is the same as having a paper tacho disc and that I must keep it for the 21 days just like the paper discs then hand it in to the office".
So as far as I am aware if you do a print out then keep it the same as the paper discs for the required time BUT you dont have to do a print out every day unless you need to make an manual entry like forgot to move mode switch.
Hope this helps
Paul:
I got stopped about 4 months ago on A1 near Wetherby at the VOSA weighbridge and I didnt have a spare roll ( nite driver had nicked 2 of them). I had to get another roll that day and print off that days work and fax it over to VOSA by 1pm next day. I asked him what I had to do with the print out after, was I to keep it or hand it in to my office and I was told " that if you do a print out then that is the same as having a paper tacho disc and that I must keep it for the 21 days just like the paper discs then hand it in to the office".
So as far as I am aware if you do a print out then keep it the same as the paper discs for the required time BUT you dont have to do a print out every day unless you need to make an manual entry like forgot to move mode switch.
Hope this helps
Paul
As you say you have no obligation to keep printouts with you unless you’ve written a manual entry on them, and from January this year you need to keep charts ec’t with you for the current day and the previous 28 days, not 21 days
there is no need to do printouts every time you remove your card ,the only time is when you need to write an expalation for going over your hours due to traffic etc, you must also keep your card with you at all times though even if you are driving analogue trucks!
Sorry to dig this one up again, but I’m in dissagreement with an agency over printouts. They’ve asked for all the printouts for the previous work I’ve done, of which I have none. The company I was working for downloaded my card every Friday, and I didn’t take any printouts during that time.
From what I can work-out… we don’t need to take a print-out unless we need to make a manual entry on the chart, and then it comes in to the same scope as an anolouge tachograph chart.
Can anyone point me the the legislation that states that print-outs are not required… I’ve looked but most probably can’t see the wood for the trees…
Iggy:
Sorry to dig this one up again, but I’m in dissagreement with an agency over printouts. They’ve asked for all the printouts for the previous work I’ve done, of which I have none. The company I was working for downloaded my card every Friday, and I didn’t take any printouts during that time.
From what I can work-out… we don’t need to take a print-out unless we need to make a manual entry on the chart, and then it comes in to the same scope as an anolouge tachograph chart.
Can anyone point me the the legislation that states that print-outs are not required… I’ve looked but most probably can’t see the wood for the trees…
Cheers
Why don’t the agency download the info off the card
The problem is, they are so used to drivers returning anolouge charts that they expect the same for print-outs.
I’m sure they don’t need them, and don’t want to be doing the print-outs for the sake if it. If I’m going to get my point over, I’d like some legislation to quote to them.
Fact is, they don’t need the info… they’ve historicly acted as a middleman for returning charts, rather then have the driver drop them into each client personnally, which has been helpful.
I just wanted to make sure before I tell them that I don’t have any prints…
Iggy:
Can anyone point me the the legislation that states that print-outs are not required… I’ve looked but most probably can’t see the wood for the trees…
Hi Iggy, here’s the part I think you need:
This is from: REGULATION (EC) No 561/2006 Article 26(4)
Article 15 [edit = of EEC 3821/85] shall be amended as follows:
– in paragraph 1, the following subparagraph shall be
added:
‘Where a driver card is damaged, malfunctions, or is not in the possession of the driver, the driver shall:
(a) at the start of his journey, print out the details of the vehicle the driver is driving, and shall enter onto that printout:
(i) details that enable the driver to be identified (name, driver card or driver’s licence number), including his signature;
(ii) the periods referred to in paragraph 3, second indent (b), (c) and (d);
[edit] Which is:
**(b)**under the sign : all other periods of work; (c) under the sign : other periods of availability, namely:
waiting time, i.e. the period during which drivers need remain at their posts only for the purpose of answering any calls to start or resume driving or to carry out other work,
time spent beside the driver while the vehicle is in motion,
time spent on a bunk while the vehicle is in motion; (d) under the sign : breaks in work and daily rest periods.[/edit]
(b) at the end of his journey, 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 not recorded by the tachograph, and mark on that document details that enable the driver to be identified (name, driver card or driver’s licence number), including the driver’s signature.’,
The part I’ve made red seems to tell us when a print-out IS required and exactly what must be recorded on it.
IMHO, it’s fairly clear that print-outs aren’t legally required at other times, but if an agency requires them as a matter of company policy, I do think that they ought to provide the necessary printer paper and pay you for the time taken to complete the print-out.
After all, it’s their party and you’d be complying with a reasonable request by an ‘employer.’
For my sins, I’ve also been an agency driver, so I do understand that quite often agencies are run by people who have no real idea of the legal requirements.
[Rant mode] This has long been a pet hate of mine, but I really do wish that agency office staff had to attend proper courses like CPC, drivers’ hours and ADR before they’re allowed to exercise control over drivers. [/end rant]
Thanks for your help DieselDave… much appreciated.
…and I agree, agencies should be run by people with industry knowledge. The agency in question is new to me, and I doubt I’ll do anything else for them. I usually work for Driver Hire, and the branch is headed up by an ex-transport manager and CPC holder and are good on transport law and regs…
Iggy, I’m afraid you won’t find in any regulations that effect us that you don’t need to do daily printouts, the regulations tell us for the most part what we must do, the point is that you won’t find in the regulations anything that suggests that a driver should do a daily printout under normal circumstances, and if they don’t say you have to then you don’t have to
I suggest that you give your agency consultant the following links and let them do some reading, at least it should keep them off your back for a while
tachograph:
Iggy, I’m afraid you won’t find in any regulations that effect us that you don’t need to do daily printouts, the regulations tell us for the most part what we must do, the point is that you won’t find in the regulations anything that suggests that a driver should do a daily printout under normal circumstances, and if they don’t say you have to then you don’t have to
That’s how I’ve interprited it… Unless I need to take a vehicle print-out due to a faulty card, or need to make a manual record, there’s no need for a daily print-out.
I think the issue is, the agency have a system that sends out a letter to a driver who hasn’t returned their charts within the scope of the requirements, but haven’t yet been able to differenciate between anolouge users and digital users, hence everyone gets a letter.
The thing that gets my back up is that I’ve even be thoughtful enough to write on my timesheets whether I’ve been using anolouge tachos or digital, and they still request charts for digi work…
[/end rant] 
