hi all my step father has a huge problem, what happened is vosa went into the traffic office where he works found three off his tachos two where he’d opened it to check his driving which they are saying is illegal the last is where the last trace before the centre is has double traced whith out a break in the trace? what they have done now is suspended him from work while an investigation is carried out but they are trying to say he’s wound the clock back but there’s no break in the trace can anyone tell me how it could have happened?? We think they are tryin to get rid off him…
Steveo7,Get your Dad to take a copy if he is, not allowed the origianls
disks ,to a firm who does Tachograph investigations and get a independant
judgement as to what happened,
only problem is getting them pete there ones from june so the transport has em.
If you wind the clock back, there won’t be a break in the trace. Hard to argue against opening the tacho mid shift.
there should be some marks from it but someone said with the tippers when in a wheel wash the tacho’s stop for however long before restarting don’t how true it is
I thought it was ok to open the tacho, or am I a numpty.
I had a card chewed up the other week and didn’t realise until the end of my shift, I’ve opened the tacho twice just to check all was ok but wrote reason on back of card. Now hope this is ok
romulas:
I thought it was ok to open the tacho, or am I a numpty.
I had a card chewed up the other week and didn’t realise until the end of my shift, I’ve opened the tacho twice just to check all was ok but wrote reason on back of card. Now hope this is ok
I had to do exactly the same about 3 months ago - stopped by VOSA at Peterlee the day after and thought oh s*** here we go but when they saw what was written on the manual entry and the state of the damaged card and that all the others were fine they were fine about it.
I think aslong as its for a genuine reason i.e a fault, its correctly documented with a manual entry and its not everyday - you will be ok
romulas:
I thought it was ok to open the tacho, or am I a numpty.
I had a card chewed up the other week and didn’t realise until the end of my shift, I’ve opened the tacho twice just to check all was ok but wrote reason on back of card. Now hope this is ok
It really ■■■■■■ me off they can use the tacho to prosecute you but you can’t use it to keep legal! Is it the same with digital?
cheers kjw21 not so worried now.
mrB they find everyway they can to kick you when you are down. me thinks I need to get Officer Dibble to sign my tachos everyday…If you can find 1
missed a bit out…regards digi i’ve no idea, not had the pleasure of using 1, but knowing the authorities it will be in their favour and we will still not be able to use it to prove our innocence…only our guilt
steve07:
only problem is getting them pete there ones from june so the transport has em.
A tacho is data which personally identifies you (because you have to write your name on the chart), and therefore it comes under the Data Protection Act.
As a result of this, you have a legal right to obtain a copy of that data. They can charge you up to £10 for giving you the copy.
Of course, instead of just asking for a copy of that tacho, you are legally entitled to get a copy of all the data they hold about you - i.e. personnel records, plus all your tachos for that £10 fee, so you could just go to them and give them the choice of giving you a copy of the tacho in question for free, or having to spend ages copying every tacho you’ve ever used, but only getting £10. Hopefully they’d see sense, and give you a copy of hte tacho in question.
A tacho is data which personally identifies you (because you have to write your name on the chart), and therefore it comes under the Data Protection Act
Not so:
The Data Protection Act allows you to have access to information held about yourself on a computer and where appropriate to have it corrected or deleted. This is the ‘subject access right’ and it means that you are entitled, on making a written request to a data user, to be supplied with a copy of any personal data held about you. The data user may charge a fee of up to £10 for each register entry for supplying this information but in some cases it is supplied free. Usually your request must be responded to within 40 days. If not, you are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner or to apply for a court order for access. If personal data is found to be inaccurate you may complain to the Information Commissioner or apply to the Courts for correction or deletion of the data.
So a manual tacho disc wouldn’t be covered by the act but a digi would
Santa:
The Data Protection Act allows you to have access to information held about yourself on a computer and where appropriate to have it corrected or deleted.
WRONG. The Data Protection Act allows you to access any information held about you whether on a computer or depending on the body, written as well. The written would apply to medical records, files held by public bodies such as VOSA, Police etc and files held by credit reference agencies.
Who ever is holding your disks is /must
BY law GIVE YOU a copy, it should be written
down some where on the VOSA SITE
REGARDING’driveing records,so tell them
to produce or you will be talking to the
VOSA OFICE;DO NOT TAKE no for
ANSWER;
Hi steve07, I’m sorry to hear about this mate. 
steve07:
…two where he’d opened it to check his driving which they are saying is illegal …
There’s not much anybody can say about that mate, except that it’s not a hanging offence.
steve07:
the last is where the last trace before the centre is has double traced whith out a break in the trace?
Going from your description, the last trace counts the distance travelled.
To my way of thinking, this might indicate that the disc was left in the tacho head for more than 24 hours,
but then the other traces would also overlap. Hmmm…
steve07:
what they have done now is suspended him from work while an investigation is carried out but they are trying to say he’s wound the clock back but there’s no break in the trace
I share your wonderment about that too mate, cos if the clock had been wound back the face must first be opened, so there would have to be a break in all three traces at some point.
steve07:
can anyone tell me how it could have happened?? We think they are tryin to get rid off him…
Maybe I could if I could see the relevant discs. If what they allege is true, then maybe he is on his way out cos it’s fairly serious.
As for obtaining copies of the discs, you won’t need to invoke the Data Protection Act, and you certainly don’t need to spend a tenner either.
Here’s how and why:
Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 Article 14(2) [As amended.]
2. The undertaking shall keep record sheets and printouts, in chronological order and in a legible form for at least a year after their use and shall give copies to the drivers concerned who request them…
You see mate, all he has to do is request them, and he must be given them, and best of all they’re the free kind.
I hope this helps. 
brit pete:
Who ever is holding your disks is /must
BY law GIVE YOU a copy, it should be written
down some where on the VOSA SITE
REGARDING’driveing records,so tell them
to produce or you will be talking to the
VOSA OFICE;DO NOT TAKE no for
ANSWER;
Blimey Pete, you’ve gone a bit red in the face there mate. 
Steady on eh?? You’ll blow a gasket otherwise.
Have you seen how much all that red ink costs…
dieseldave:
steve07:
the last is where the last trace before the centre is has double traced whith out a break in the trace?Going from your description, the last trace counts the distance travelled.
To my way of thinking, this might indicate that the disc was left in the tacho head for more than 24 hours,
but then the other traces would also overlap. Hmmm…
I remember some of the older tachographs were the tachograph is part of the speedo, if you moved the clock sometimes it would slighty knock out the time.
Like say it was 1615, time on the tachograph was 1615, but then maybe you wound it back to 1615, the time on the tachograph maybe 1610
If your step dad was running legit, is there no way he can prove where he was at certain times to back up the times on the tachograph are correct. I leave a place in Birmingham at say 2000, ive put my card in done my daily checks for 10mins leave at 2010 its noted down by security the truck is leaving the yard. Later on say i get to Cairnryan for 0300 when i get to Cairnryan again my details are noted downby security, and then i go drop the trailer pull the card.
So if it came down to if i could get a copy of their records i could prove my tachograph times all match up. can your step father not do similar.
A driver I worked with a few years ago was well up on all the tacho stuff. He had previously worked for Securicor where they were all put on courses to understand the tacho regs. His opinion was it was permissible for a driver to open the head to check for example how much driving time he had left.
tartanraider:
A driver I worked with a few years ago was well up on all the tacho stuff. He had previously worked for Securicor where they were all put on courses to understand the tacho regs. His opinion was it was permissible for a driver to open the head to check for example how much driving time he had left.
Not up on all the laws, but i doubt it is legal to open it up because opening up means you can do naughty things then at a later date if questioned about it say you just opened it up to check your hours.
Lets face it as truck drivers we aint trusted anyways, if we were still be using log books and not have limiters.
Wasnt it the case with the old tachographs with the keys somewhere in Europe it was illegal to drive with the key in the tachograph ?
according to a met traffic officer, it is legal to open your recording equipment to check driving hours or working hours.
isn’t it amazing how 1 piece of legislatiopn can bring so many different interpretations