One day in about 1988, I was running back through France, when I approached a peage. The Police were waiting on the other side, and there was a Dutch truck already at the booth. At the time, I had shorted out my tachograph using a short piece of wire with a tiny crocodile clip on each end, I had cut into the harness behind the steering column and by earthing out the circuit, I cold drive indefinitely with the tacho showing “rest”. One hit from Milan! 
I thought no worries, the Dutchman will be long gone when I pull up, they’ll pull him in and off I’ll jolly well go. However, he didn’t move, just sat there for ages. I slowed down, still he sat there. As I pulled level with him at the next booth, he looked at me, then at his tacho, as if to say “I’m fiddling. You go first”. So I looked at him as if to say “Me too. But you were here first”.
So off he reluctantly went and naturally the filth pulled him in, while I cracked on.
It seemed that this was endemic in the 1980s on continental work. Running on the wire, winding the tacho clock forwards and backwards, writing the wrong date on the card, I knew people who had ingenious systems built into the dashboard to disable the tacho. If you did get stopped, a 100 franc note tucked into your passport before you handed it over usually worked wonders.
As it’s decades too late for this to cause problems, I wondered if anybody else would like to post their confessional? 
Not just the eighties, endemic in the ninties and noughties too. Up till about 6 years ago and believe it or not I still know of the odd one still doing it
Again, this is a thread tailor made for DieselDog… 
P.S. You’re a very naughty boy Harry!
Expect a knock on the door before the week is out Harry. Your admission of crime should see you eating porridge for decades to come with the way some view such heinous crimes against humanity! Yeah never even bothered with a wire myself, just used plenty of disks and generally got away with it. Good times indeed.
I’m a good boy, me [emoji6].
But, early 90s, I knew someone who used to work in a factory during the day, arranging & loading wagons with heavy duty conveyor equipment for car factories & do the newspapers/Express & Star out of West Ferry Printers at night, occasionally he did Wapping/News of the World, on a Saturday night, he did it for 2 years & it cost him his 1st marriage, used to get about 3 or 4 hours sleep a night for most of the week, he was absolutely knackered.
Never do it again, whoops, I mean he would never do it again.
switchlogic:
Not just the eighties, endemic in the ninties and noughties too. Up till about 6 years ago and believe it or not I still know of the odd one still doing it
It seemed that at some point in the early 1990s, the French Police started taking it far more seriously and “Voulez vous un cafe Monsieur?” became a lot less likely to work?
I may have pulled the odd stunt back in the day (see username ) as a fridge driver it was seen as part of the job. Strangely enough the fruit in the trailer always seemed to be destined for one of our large supermarket chains and due to be delivered yesterday. Thank god I nowhave a boss who wants everything done legal. I wonder if the penalties for running bent these days are the reason it’s less common or the fact that there aren’t so many companies doing long haul
With stupid continental speed limits and daily rest periods and breaks all under the spy in the cab it’s probably just as,if not more,likely that a truck would run off the road,because of its driver falling asleep through running legal,as running bent. 
On that note we were probably safer here in the 1970’s running with log books and a let’s say flexibly applied 60 mph limit.IE start later finish earlier more breaks and still get there quicker and the guvnor none the wiser.
I wouldn’t dream of it of course but I heard that if you earthed the blue wire to the ■■■ lighter the tacho would not work properly. Can’t see why you would want to do that though.
Rumour has it there was a bolt under the dash on a 3 series Scania that was just right for a crocodile clip
Tarmac duck:
I wouldn’t dream of it of course but I heard that if you earthed the blue wire to the ■■■ lighter the tacho would not work properly. Can’t see why you would want to do that though.
Tripping the third contact breaker from the left on a Foden did the same…allegedly. 
Pete.
200 marlboro got you away with most naughtieness along with a good selection of fine wines and finer ■■■■■■■■■■■.in more recent years the younger plod throughout europe arnt just so mallable…theres less doing it now cos of digicards,but as always,if someone can make it,someone else can fiddle it…1 hitters,and trip money was and is definately more interestng and rewarding.anytime ive tried doing the 97 miles on the A 75 at 40mph has had me scudding the grass at some point out of chronic boredom and losing interest by not having to keep an eye out for plod…and even then,you still get a tug with the…were checking cards today driver,cos you stick out like a sore thumb as if your hiding something if your not lit on or off the boat.once again,each to their own…some want a plobbing trunk or supermarket job,i like running to suit myself as much as poss.whatever floats your boat,but it was a different job in the 80s.anyone wishing a tase of the good old days,then all can suggest is come ver here and work for a major company subby whether north or south them trucks need paid for…
Drive for five days then shunt in the yard for two then repeat as required.
I always used to run out on a Sunday around noontime, sometimes I’d leave at midnight with the clock wound back 12 hours (for the double time) then get to my first drop, pull the card, wind the clock back to the correct time and insert a fresh card.
I also used to finish on a Friday and then work in the yard roping and sheeting loads till lunchtime, hit the pub with all the lads and then go back out on Sunday. I was in my twenties at the time so could happily burn both ends of the candle.
The wire for mine had only one crocodile clip, a needle was soldered to the other end of my ‘Thin Friend’ The needle was pushed through the specific colour coded wire (yellow?? memory has gone) the crocodile clip went on the edge of the cigarette light socket making contact with the earth.
Found by the main agent servicing chaps, it was taped to the inside of the screen one week before leaving for Italy. a new one was produced as this only lasted until the next inspection when on my return to pick up the truck for a trip I found the wires for the tacho encased in an armoured type of cable sleeving!
I was shown a neat trick where an Irish lad parked next to me at the St Louis/ Basle border into Switzerland one night, showed me how his instrument dimmer slowed his tacho down to a respectable recorded speed, I never found out how that one worked.
But to be fair the tricks were only used in a dire emergency…like getting home for a weekend, never to benefit the boss directly.
The Eurotech had a fuse (14?) which when removed stopped the tacho recording your movement. So I was told… 
And on Ivecos you could just ride the clutch a touch, and it would disable the limiter… allegedly
A was once told by a driver at an RDC that he just to park up outside the gates of wherever he was tipping/loading next morning, but wouldn’t put his tacho card in untill after he had loaded/tipped and was ready to roll.
I did my last cpc course with the fella that trained me for my class 1. He wasn’t taking it, he was an attendee.
The subject changed to things we’d done in the past, and there was a fuse he used to pull, that used to take out the tacho and the limiter.
Unfortunately it also took out the brake lights.
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