Ran my new truck last week there obviously with the Digi tacho doing everything for me but I obviously remembered the hassles I had 1.5 years ago when I drove a Digi Tacho Scania and what time it churned up especially if doing a lot of stop starts.
I done a little test sort of this week with my trips to see the time differences. Once I was stationary (Handbrake on, Neutral etc) and with the cross hammers showing on the head and the dash and turned off my timer and this is what happened - Throughout my week I lost 45 mins. Doesnt seem much but thats nearly 24hours a year, again doesnt seem much but with the strict rules & regs already in place you really do need all the time you can get. Luckily for me I was never in stop/start traffioc, that lost time is from silly things like stop/start at traffic lights, stop/start to open trailer doors and onto a bay, stop/start pulling off a bay, stop/start hooking and/or dropping a trailer etc etc etc etc…
Now I would have thought surely by now these problems would have been ironed out? With todays technologies it would be 110% accurate, especially considering it shows when ive stopped dead that it goes to cross hammers…
Whats Vosas views if you were to drive 45mins over your 45hr driving week every week and used the excuse of “Well the digi timer isn’t doing its job right and taking too much time off me”
scottishcruiser:
Whats Vosas views if you were to drive 45mins over your 45hr driving week every week and used the excuse of “Well the digi timer isn’t doing its job right and taking too much time off me”
If you mean drive for 1.5 hours over the 90 hours every fortnight then my guess is that they’d be so impressed that they’d invite you to join them for a chat with the TC so he/she could learn from you
But that would of cause most likely be after lightening your wallet a little
Over the course of a day or week it usually works out about right, especially if you take steps to minimise wasted minutes if driving time is that crucial.
It can nick a bit when doing things like opening the doors before backing on a bay or pulling off a bay after loading but then in stop start traffic such as a hold up on the motorway it will give you time back by recording short stops as other work, same for a longer wait at traffic lights.
If driving time is that tight, which means working time probably isn’t you can minimise the problem by not beginning a short movement, such as pulling forward off a bay, until a new calendar minute clocks round. If you start moving at 50 seconds into a minute and stop at 10 seconds into the next minute it will count 2 minutes. If you wait until the clock clicks round to a new minute and then move until 20 seconds into that minute it will only count 1 minute. Bit of a pain but if driving time is that tight then it can be worth it.
A lot of ■■■■■■■■ is talked about the digi adding time on but it can’t actually move time. If a run normally takes you 2 hours and you leave the yard at 06:00 and get to your destination at 08:00 then the digi will show that as 2 hours driving, it won’t show more than that, it can’t.
If you do the same run the next day but because of an accident on the motorway it takes you from 06:00 to 9:00 the most the digi will show is 3 hours driving, even though you have been in stop start traffic, it can’t show more than the actual elapsed time… However it is unlikely to show 3 hours driving and will more likely to show 2 hours 45 minutes to 2 hours 55 minutes as some of the stops will have been recorded as Other Work. So you lose a little, you win a little and it all comes out pretty even.
Coffeeholic:
/snip . . . If you start moving at 50 seconds into a minute and stop at 10 seconds into the next minute it will count 2 minutes. If you wait until the clock clicks round to a new minute and then move until 20 seconds into that minute it will only count 1 minute. Bit of a pain but if driving time is that tight then it can be worth it.
That’s one of my two major issues with the digi tacho. And it stinks. A 20 second shunt being recorded as a 2 minute drive.
It’s easy to say that it’s not “much” or it’s only an occasional “theft”
But if you work your way through a 12 vehicle queue like that, moving one vehicle length every 3 or 4 minutes, the time “thievery” can make the difference between getting to Alconbury within your time or going over.
If you choose to stay legal and bin it early at Cambridge services, that in itself could make you 30 minutes late for a delivery the next day to Gateshead. Which in turn could fubar your whole day because while they we waiting for you, the next box turned up so they started the 3 hours handball.
VOSA will always take the time from the vehicle tacho unit as correct regardless of what your timer says.
If you want to know what will happen to you if you go over your driving time (be if daily, weekly or fortnightly limits) see the Enforcement Sanctions Policy on their website - it spells out all the action an examiner can take in a given situation and is freely available for downloading.
nick2008:
i used to run bristol to leicester to cherwell valley cant make it now as it robs 10mins
A thing a lot of people seem to forget too, is that prior to these digitachs not all driving counted so shunting /driving around a yard was never counted. Only from when you left the gate did most count the ‘driving time’. This did give a little flexibility.
