I am just about to start a new job with a haulage company who have trucks with digital tachos. Having worked for them for a trial period i printed my records on a daily basis and returned these to the office on a weekly basis as they do not have a digital card reader. During my CPC training i was advised to download the data from my card on a weekly basis.
My questions are:
Should they have a digital card reader?
Will the printed records held conform to legislation and pass a VOSA check?
Any advice as always would be very much appreciated.
Yes they should and download the drivers card preferably every week, some firms do it every day which is a bit much, I do it every month. They should also be downloading the vehicle head units every month although the data stays on the head unit for a year. It is a legal requirement so you may want to let them know they will get a rocket if VOSA finds out. They should also be doing driver infringement letters that the driver should sign, this is also a legal requirement.
Youd don’t need to keep printouts yourself unless you go over your hours for whatever reason and must put the reason on the printout and sign it the same day. Your card holds a couple of months driving data and VOSA or the Police can download this from your card if they need to check your hours. It is the drivers responsibility to ensure the tacho has paper in it should you be asked to provide a printout a the side of the road, £60 fine to the driver if you can’t, your firm should pay for paper but a good idea to keep a spare roll on you as the fine is payable by the driver!
The company are breaking the law and possibly putting their operators license at risk (in the most serious cases) by not downloading the data from the driver card, I assume they have no way of downloading the data from the vehicle either which is another offence.
The regulations are very clear that the data from the driver card should be downloaded no later than 28 days from the day after the last download and the data on the VU should be downloaded no later than 56 days from the day after the last download.
To answer your questions:
They should have the means to download the driver card data and the data on the VU, whether that be by their own equipment or by using someone else’s equipment.
Not downloading the data from both the driver card and the VU are two separate offences, there’s no come back on the driver as your responsibility ends at making your driver card available, if the company faced a documents check for any reason I’m sure VOSA would not be impressed and apart from any fine the company could face it would also presumably get them points on the “OCRS” (Operator Compliance Risk Score).
Printouts would not be good enough as only keeping printouts does not comply with the regulations.
Having said that I’m surprised any company would want to keep printouts for every vehicle every day
It’s an expensive and inefficient way of keeping records even if it did comply with the regulations which as I say it does not
Jay40:
Thank you both for the info, i was sure they should have a card reader to download the data!!..What to do now!!!
Many thanks,
J
Well it doesn’t come down on your head so don’t worry! Your guvnor MIGHT not be aware of his responsibilities so you could put him in the picture then your conscience is clear.
Jay40:
Thank you both for the info, i was sure they should have a card reader to download the data!!..What to do now!!!
Many thanks,
J
Wait until you’ve started the job and then you could discreetly make them aware that they are required by the regulations to download the data from the driver card and the VU, don’t put your job at risk though as it’s their responsibility to know this stuff not yours.
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Wait until you’ve started the job and then you could discreetly make them aware that they are required by the regulations to download the data from the driver card and the VU, don’t put your job at risk though as it’s their responsibility to know this stuff not yours.
Wait until you’ve started the job and then you could discreetly make them aware that they are required by the regulations to download the data from the driver card and the VU, don’t put your job at risk though as it’s their responsibility to know this stuff not yours.
I’m not an expert on any subject mate, just someone who happens to know the answers to the questions that were asked and like most people at TrucknetUK willing to help
Wait until you’ve started the job and then you could discreetly make them aware that they are required by the regulations to download the data from the driver card and the VU, don’t put your job at risk though as it’s their responsibility to know this stuff not yours.
I’m not an expert on any subject mate, just someone who happens to know the answers to the questions that were asked and like most people at TrucknetUK willing to help
Ok mate, heres goes then . . .
fairly new driver and been working full time since passing test (analogue tacho’s)
Recently changed jobs and using a digi tacho (siemens VDO). Anyway, can I check how many driving hours I’ve done that shift as obviously when youve had your break it starts again at 0 mins.
If my memory serves me correctly, with the vehicle stationary press “OK” and the display will show “Printout Driver 1” use the down arrow to scroll down until the display shows “Display Driver 1” then press “OK”, the display will show something like “24h display” press “OK” and the current date will be shown press “OK” again.
You will now be able to scroll down through the days activities and I’m reasonably sure that at the bottom of the list it shows the total driving time since the end of the last daily rest period, be prepared to scroll down some way though because depending on how many activities are recorded for the shift so far you could be pressing the down arrow a lot
Thinking about it when you Press “OK” from the standard display it shows your driving time since the last break, rest periods is segments of 15 minutes and the driving time over 2 weeks, I suppose if you made a note of the two weeks driving time at the start of shift you would only have to look at it again to be able to work out how much driving you’ve done in the current shift, easier than all that scrolling so it must be worth a try anyway
In addition to the use of the VU, i have now purchased a Tachodisc Driver Hours Guard 2 from E Bay, £54, great piece of kit and tells you all you need to know.
I was discussing this with someone recently & I ended up wondering if I’d spent over £300 inc vat for my downloading kit. (still don’t know how to use the head download mind you) Someone advised me that as long as I do a printout every day that’ll do & I don’t need to download. I believe it’s a legal requirement to download the card every 28 days & the unit every 56 days. Can someone tell me who is right or if either method is OK please.
But to reiterate you are right and he is wrong, printouts are no substitute for downloading the card and the VU, downloading both is a legal requirement.
Basilbrush:
I was discussing this with someone recently & I ended up wondering if I’d spent over £300 inc vat for my downloading kit. (still don’t know how to use the head download mind you) Someone advised me that as long as I do a printout every day that’ll do & I don’t need to download. I believe it’s a legal requirement to download the card every 28 days & the unit every 56 days. Can someone tell me who is right or if either method is OK please.
BB
You also need the “company” digital card to download the VU
