Hi all. 
Used to post a wee bit on trucknet wayy back around 2006ish but forgot my original username so had to make a new account. Anyhoo I’m back and it’s great to see the site is still up and running. Looks like it’s going from strength to strength, still helping newbies like you helped me back then with so many questions I had.
So what brought me back then? Well a few things, firstly needed a bit of help with these sodding digi tacho and WTD rules (ugh, right pain in the arse). Also this is the best place without a doubt to get help from experienced drivers who know their stuff, and I am in a situation now where I’m again looking for a bit of advice from ppl better in-the-know than me…
After over 5 years of grafting and doing all the “no-one else will take it” jobs with agency, I am really close to finally getting a Proper full time job! Got an interview next week and just wanted to see what advice anyone would give for what things to say, or what they would be looking for etc… I’ve been on agency for so long that I genuinely don’t know any more! (Even though I know it might seem a bit obvious.) It’s gonna take a bit of getting used to for me - actually having a proper job with monthly pay etc lol.
I’m really hoping this goes well, it could be the end of being tossed about like a spare part in bloody agency-land, getting absolutely no recognition for your work whatsoever and getting paid peanuts for hard graft… Finally my Own wagon which I can take care of properly, and also some sense of REGIMENTED ROUTINE in my work… Not the usual phone calls in the middle of the night “Can you do a shift at 7?” or being met with statements such as “I’m sorry we don’t give out gloves” … “We don’t know where you’ll be going…” (and so on…)
Any help appreciated, cheers 
Welcome back 
Personaly i would go to interview looking smart , they will prob ask the question why do u wannawork here so may be an idea todo abit of research on saidcompany so you can answer with what you can bring to the job and why they need you and not the others, make sure you take your saftey shoes and gloves high viz etc in boot of car in case they want to do an assesment drive with you as you say all the obvious stuff really, you have 5 years of experience to wow them with so mabe a quick look back at all the different jobs you have done with agency how you can turn your hand to most challenges and work on initiative , getting along with different people etc , just wow them an they wont be able to resist employing such a good candidate
good luck with the interview hope you get it
jx
whats the questions on digitacho and wtd ,
Hiya,
cheers some nice tips there. I never thought about taking my driving stuff with me, that’s a good idea though.
I notice u said to dress smart, I was wondering about this… how smart is smart though? I mean should I go like a non-driving job interview (suit, tie, black shoes n all that malarky…), or would just clean shirt and clean jeans with clean trainers be ok? See this is what I mean about being so out of touch with the whole “work life” thing. All an agency driver needs to worry about clothes-wise is steelies to keep yer toes from getting crumpled to bits, and a high viz n gloves!
Digi tachos ok… got so many questions I wouldn’t wanna drive you to despair. But biggest one is about the print outs, do u get a print out off the thing after every shift before u pull yer card out? And if so how long do u need to keep that print out with you? Is it for the next 28 days or summat? Also what does that “manual entry” thing mean when u put your card in? I always just skip it and choose “no” but I am starting to worry I might be making a systematic mistake doing that… not used my card a lot so far, probably less than 10 times in total. Also, does the unit tell you how long you’ve got left 'til you’re going over your driving time? I usually use a stopwatch but the unit would be more accurate I suppose cos it knows when u stop at red lights etc. Ok and 1 last one, if you’re doing an overnight, do you have to pull your card out and put it back in for a new day, or does it register that by itself? Better stop there lol, that’s quite a few questions already.
Cheers Jennie
COOKiEEES!!:
Digi tachos ok… got so many questions I wouldn’t wanna drive you to despair. But biggest one is about the print outs, do u get a print out off the thing after every shift before u pull yer card out? And if so how long do u need to keep that print out with you? Is it for the next 28 days or summat?
No you don’t need a printout after every shift, the records are stored on your card.
You only need to do printouts if you need to write a manual entry on it such as explaining why you went over driving time ec’t.
Any printouts you do should be kept with you for 28 days then handed into the operator.
COOKiEEES!!:
Also what does that “manual entry” thing mean when u put your card in? I always just skip it and choose “no” but I am starting to worry I might be making a systematic mistake doing that…
You put in manual entries to show time that was not recorded automatically, such as the time you may have spent working at the end of the last shift after you took the card out, or the time you spent working before inserting the card for the current shift.
COOKiEEES!!:
does the unit tell you how long you’ve got left 'til you’re going over your driving time?
Yes.
COOKiEEES!!:
if you’re doing an overnight, do you have to pull your card out and put it back in for a new day, or does it register that by itself?
It’s up-to you whether you take the card out or leave it in, if you leave the card in you have to put the shift end location in and the shift start location at the start of the new shift.
Personally I’ve always taken the card out at night but some drivers leave it in, it’s all a matter of the drivers choice.
Here’s a link to the on-line digital tachograph simulator you can practice on.
Thank you tachograph, thank you very much. That info helped clear a great deal of confusion in my mind. The only thing I’m wondering now is about the countdown timer on the unit for your driving hours… I never noticed it so far whenever I’ve used a digi tacho. Is there some sort of series of key inputs u need to follow to get it to show and remain there throughout your shift? That would be extremely helpful if there is
Cheers
COOKiEEES!!:
Thank you tachograph, thank you very much. That info helped clear a great deal of confusion in my mind. The only thing I’m wondering now is about the countdown timer on the unit for your driving hours… I never noticed it so far whenever I’ve used a digi tacho. Is there some sort of series of key inputs u need to follow to get it to show and remain there throughout your shift? That would be extremely helpful if there is
Sorry I may have been a bit misleading with my previous reply, it doesn’t show how much driving time you’ve got left it shows how much driving time you’ve done since your last break.
On a Siemens digital tachograph whilst the vehicle is moving press “OK” to see how much driving has been done since the last break, whilst the vehicle is stationary press the down arrow to see the same.
I’m afraid there’s no quick way to check the daily driving time done, you can check how much driving time you’ve done in the shift by doing a printout, or when the vehicle is stationary press “OK” then scroll down the menu until you reach “Driver 1 Display” then Press “OK”, you can now scroll down through the shifts activities, when you get near the bottom of the list you can see the days driving time.
It’s a bit long winded but when you’ve done it a couple of times it only takes a minute.
Gotcha, thanks for this. Now my next question is…
tachograph:
On a Siemens digital tachograph whilst the vehicle is moving press “OK” to see how much driving has been done since the last break, whilst the vehicle is stationary press the down arrow to see the same.
Would that include all minor stops at traffic lights, give ways, traffic jams, etc (where the vehicle has come to complete rest, even if the time it was stationary did not amount to the minimum of 15 min?), and if so, is there any way to change it so that the mode goes into P.O.A instead of rest at those moments?
Ta for your help
When you stop in traffic the mode changes to other work and this cannot be altered, in fact it would be illegal to change it to POA even if you could
Some digital tachographs default to other work when the ignition is switched off and some default to rest when the ignition is switched off, but they all change to other work when the vehicle stops moving.
Driving time on a digital tachograph is the time the wheels are turning, so if you drove for 30 minutes then got stuck in traffic for 3 minutes then did another 30 minutes driving the tachograph would show 1 hour driving not 1 hour 3 minutes.