Used tach for first time mon and on leaving the depot the guy said just leave it on drive when you are delivering so I did thought I had enough time to deliver before break but then had to handball 28 boxes off and took me over drive hours I know Ive been stupid but now worried what i should do and wether in lot of trouble have studied tach trace and you can see lots of times where veh not moving if explain this to anyone who stops me and checks tach will they still fine me ? Also was poa for ages as waiting for them to get me ready and realised that the wtd might be too long was poa for two hours before started driving was just a stupid idiot worrying about getting job done(please no one have ago I know how stupid I have been ) just wondered if I would be able to explain my way out and wether they would be sympathetic with my explanation ?
Did you have the mode switch set to the hammers position? If you did you’ll be fine as the tacho will only record driving whilst you are moving and will default back to work when you stop. Anyone looking at the trace will see that you have only been driving when the vehicle is moving, if there is no speed trace then it won’t count as driving time. As for the POA then technically it would only count if you were told it would be two hours wait anyway. The only problem you may have is if you didn’t take a 15minute break within the first 6 hours of the shift.
You didn’t leave it on drive, it’s impossible to leave it on drive. All tachos for the last couple of decades at least are of the “automatic” type which record driving automatically when the vehicle is moving. You will, I assume, have left it on “other work” (the crossed hammers symbol) and (in the driver’s hours rules at least) there is no limit to the amount of other work you need to do before you have a break.
If you look at your tacho (assuming it’s analogue) then the middle of the three traces is the mode trace (the inner one being distance and the outer being speed). You can quite clearly see on there where it switches between driving (the widest part of the trace) and other work (narrower trace). When you’re on break there is a gap in the trace or just a thin line.
Without knowing the exact details of your shift we can’t say “you’re legal” but I would geuss you are as long as you didn’t do more than 4.5h of actual driving before your break (or for the WTD 6h in total of driving plus other work).
tofer:
Did you have the mode switch set to the hammers position? If you did you’ll be fine as the tacho will only record driving whilst you are moving and will default back to work when you stop. Anyone looking at the trace will see that you have only been driving when the vehicle is moving, if there is no speed trace then it won’t count as driving time. As for the POA then technically it would only count if you were told it would be two hours wait anyway. The only problem you may have is if you didn’t take a 15minute break within the first 6 hours of the shift.
No was set to drive as that was what i was told to do was not told about poa i thought would be straight out as they were desperate as far as i was concerned when agency rang
So if I set to hammers and then drive this will still be legal and tach will record driving like that and then go on break and back to hammers if i keep like that it will not record my off loading time when veh stopped no did not take 15 mins earlier either
You didn’t leave it on drive, it’s impossible to leave it on drive. All tachos for the last couple of decades at least are of the “automatic” type which record driving automatically when the vehicle is moving. You will, I assume, have left it on “other work” (the crossed hammers symbol) and (in the driver’s hours rules at least) there is no limit to the amount of other work you need to do before you have a break.
If you look at your tacho (assuming it’s analogue) then the middle of the three traces is the mode trace (the inner one being distance and the outer being speed). You can quite clearly see on there where it switches between driving (the widest part of the trace) and other work (narrower trace). When you’re on break there is a gap in the trace or just a thin line.
Without knowing the exact details of your shift we can’t say “you’re legal” but I would geuss you are as long as you didn’t do more than 4.5h of actual driving before your break (or for the WTD 6h in total of driving plus other work).
Paul
The Tach I had was the Kienzle page 64 of truckers handbook
Actual driving on trace not 4 1/2 as have looked and can see that veh not moving when was unloading just panicing because had it on driving mode
Jennie:
So if I set to hammers and then drive this will still be legal and tach will record driving like that and then go on break and back to hammers if i keep like that it will not record my off loading time when veh stopped
That would be all okay, it will record you offloading time as that is what the crossed hammers is and as already said it is impossible to leave it on driving when the vehicle is stopped while unloading. In fact it is also impossible for you, the driver, to switch it to driving as that happens automatically when the vehicle moves.
Stop panicking as you have done nothing wrong. If they didn’t mention POA to you they probably aren’t bothered about you recording it so if I were you I would just forget about it. That way you will only have two modes to think about. If you are doing any other work apart from driving make sure it is on crossed hammers and if you are having a break or doing any hanging about waiting for something to happen and are doing nothing switch it to the bed symbol. That’s it, that’s all you have to do and regardless of whether you are on hammers or bed when the vehicle starts to move it will automatically switch to driving mode.
Now take a deep breath and say I am not an idiot and I did nothing wrong with the tacho mode switches.
Jennie:
Actual driving on trace not 4 1/2 as have looked and can see that veh not moving when was unloading just panicing because had it on driving mode
Just to reiterate what has already been said, there is no such thing as a “driving mode” that you can put the tachograph to. There are 3 things you can set it to, break (bed symbol), POA (box with a line through it) and other work (crossed hammers). In any of these positions if you drive the vehicle it will automatically record driving on the chart. In normal use you would typically leave it on “other work” except for when you are taking your break.
