Hi Folks a quick question about a question mark on a tacho print out…
A guy at my work, was changing vehicles, he had sat showing other work for 11 minutes then ejected his card. He jumped into another vehicle, done his checks, paper work ect, then popped his card in… it asked him “manual entry?” to which he put “No” (I would have put yes and just put in other work) he thought as he ejected on other work, it would have continued as other work. So he has a 16 minute period, which he says was on break, instead of other work. Our company want us to show a minimum of 15 mins other work, before we take a vehicle out, and he was worried about getting a infringement for coming off a break of 16 mins then driving away, I suggested taking a print out and writing a “Wrong Mode Selected” explanation on the back. Later on in the depot, midnight had passed, and the guy wasn’t sure how to do a print out from the previous day, so I done it for him…
The period he was talking about, lets say 22:00 - 22:16, I was expecting to see a rest/bed symbol next to it, as he says it had recorded as a break, but it didn’t, it had a question mark next to it, laid out similar to this
? 22:00 - 16mins
Can anyone tell me what the question mark means? and Will he get a infringement for this?
Any other information of the “?” would be greatly appreciated
All the ? Is for is to show unaccounted time. This could be a period between shifts (where you were on rest) or a period of time when you were at work driving a vehicle with a analogue tacho.
He could claim the 16 minutes as rest but questions would be raised as to why the wrong mode was selected or a manual entry not done correctly to show this.
As said, ? just means unaccounted time. The tacho just does not know what was happening during said time.
It does not register an infringement but I definitely would not assume it was on break.
When he put his card back in other vehicle,did it also show his previous driving time?
As has been said the question mark is time that is unaccounted for.
A digital tachograph, just like an analogue tachograph, cannot record an activity for time the card/chart is not in the tachograph, so he will probably get an infringement for failing to use the tachograph to accurately record his activities.
The-Snowman:
As said, ? just means unaccounted time. The tacho just does not know what was happening during said time.
It does not register an infringement but I definitely would not assume it was on break.
When he put his card back in other vehicle,did it also show his previous driving time?
Not sure about the driving time, I’d imagine it would have as it was only 16 mins.
I’m assuming he should have a print out with a explanation on it, for this unaccounted for period, in case he is stopped by VOSA/DVSA?
The-Snowman:
As said, ? just means unaccounted time. The tacho just does not know what was happening during said time.
It does not register an infringement but I definitely would not assume it was on break.
When he put his card back in other vehicle,did it also show his previous driving time?
Not sure about the driving time, I’d imagine it would have as it was only 16 mins.
I’m assuming he should have a print out with a explanation on it, for this unaccounted for period, in case he is stopped by VOSA/DVSA?
The previous driving time will still be shown. If he had a ? That spanned 45 minutes or more than his time would get reset.
unless he has an analogue chart that covers the missing time then a printout would be wise, especially if he was claiming that at that time he was on a break.
G6Bob:
then ejected his card. He jumped into another vehicle, done his checks, paper work ect, then popped his card in… it asked him “manual entry?” to which he put “No”
? 22:00 - 16mins
The question mark refers to this missing 16 mins, he should have simply put his card in straightaway before doing all the above or replied yes and done a manual entry.
