Only passed my C test the other day so tacos are confusing enough never mind digital ones.
Can’t drive the lorry until i’ve passed my C+E but want to get my head around the taco asap. Some of these questions might become obvious once i actually start using it so sorry in advance
So the truck has a black box with 2 card slots and a printer. There is a company card, the driver card that i’ve applied for, a small hand held box with lights on and a PC that I can stick my drivers card in to download the info.
I’ll be the only driver as well as keeping all records etc - the operator if you like (restricted license)
Questions;
As far as i can tell the taco is automatic and wired into the truck controls. The display behind the steering wheel seems to display taco information including driving time etc. Do i have to switch it onto rest etc or just leave it and it’ll record that i’m not driving?
Why do i need the little printer in the lorry if its on the card and I can download onto PC? Is this just optional?
I believe the truck stores driver hours as well as the driver card, if its only me driving do i need to take records off the truck and keep them as well? If so any idea how i get them off the truck, is this what the company card is for?
The clock on the truck is wrong according to my watch but i can only adjust it in 30 minute steps. Are the clocks on the tacos automatic like RDS radios?
Like I say some of those may become obvious when i start but i’d rather have the correct procedure in my head before i turn the key then learn it when i get pulled for a check
ok so i’ve found the manual and answered most of my own questions
Just got one more, you can manually enter other work, i’ll be spending most of the time working in the factory with a couple of days driving a week, surely they don’t expct me to sit there filling all this in on the taco - can’t i just keep a log of my weekly working hours in a diary?
I did that over christmas, spent most of my time on yard duties, had one run in an analogue tacho vehicle, and one in a digital one. Being a good little boy, for every day I worked in the yard filled in a tacho, name, date, start, finish, and recorded the date and serial number on the front of the packet all nice for mr VOSA man. Handed one of the packs in last week, ops clark looks at filled in disk with no trace, “Did you drive that day?”
“No” says I
“What have you filled a tacho in for then?” Says she
The joys of driving
All though you may not have driven on the days you fill a tacho in you need to make a manul record on the back of it ,ie start 06:00 work from 06:00 to 09:00 break 09:00 to 09:15 work 09:15 to 12:00 break 12:00 to 12:30 and so on
nick2008:
The joys of driving
All though you may not have driven on the days you fill a tacho in you need to make a manul record on the back of it ,ie start 06:00 work from 06:00 to 09:00 break 09:00 to 09:15 work 09:15 to 12:00 break 12:00 to 12:30 and so on
I was under the impression it only needed to be filled in and have EDR/SDR lines?
Checked on the dft website and if it is a non-driving day then you only need name, date and start/finish times. But it would seem if you drive for only five minutes you need to make manual entries for the whole day.
if the vehicle isnt being moved by another driver just stick a card in the truck
at start of day do the button press thing
at night do end duty
repeat this daily
I thought you could only drive the tractor on a C license if the 5th wheel had been disabled?!
Hi Cynic-al, you can use a Cat “C” driving licence to drive a solo tractor unit.
The trailer is driving licence Cat “E,” hence the extra driving test to have that category added.
cool, come back plastic card, i’m going to meadowhall
Actually i could use it for camping, gotta be better than the tent
In all seriousness i could take the tractor with me when i go to do my c+e training and get the instructor to give me half an hour on the taco and the rules
nick2008:
The joys of driving
All though you may not have driven on the days you fill a tacho in you need to make a manul record on the back of it ,ie start 06:00 work from 06:00 to 09:00 break 09:00 to 09:15 work 09:15 to 12:00 break 12:00 to 12:30 and so on
Not correct. All you need for non driving days in a week in which you did some driving under EU rules is your name, the date and start and finish times.
Ski:
No, you should record start of duty (End of Daily Rest), End of Duty (Start of Daily Rest) and other work/POA/rest for the day.
Not correct. You don’t require daily rest periods on days you don’t drive so there would be no SDR to mark. As above, just name, date and start and finish times are all that is required.
never realy thought about this.so on an analogue taco on a day i hadnt driven,id fill my name and date in as you normaly would on the front and write on back when i started and finished?
Trickie:
never realy thought about this.so on an analogue taco on a day i hadnt driven,id fill my name and date in as you normaly would on the front and write on back when i started and finished?
Back or front it doesn’t matter.
That would only be on days when you work but don’t drive but do drive at some point in the week. For rest days and working days in weeks in which you do no driving then there is no need to fill in a chart.
You’re perfectly legal to drive it on a C licence.