I’ve had a letter through from my agency, asking me to explain why I took 186mins rest during a shift.
now I’ve looked at my printout for that day and it don’t make any sense to me, I can tell you I picked up the trailer in the yard at Newark, drove to Kings Lynn and did 2 drops, then back to Newark, changed trailers and went to Grantham waited around for 1 hour or so, then back to Newark. I didn’t stop in any laybys that I remember, certainly not for 2mins then another 2mins driving, can anyone help me with an explanation ? heres a pic of my printout.
Have a made some kind of cockup or is there maybe a fault ?
Lycanthrope:
I’ve had a letter through from my agency, asking me to explain why I took 186mins rest during a shift.
now I’ve looked at my printout for that day and it don’t make any sense to me, I can tell you I picked up the trailer in the yard at Newark, drove to Kings Lynn and did 2 drops, then back to Newark, changed trailers and went to Grantham waited around for 1 hour or so, then back to Newark. I didn’t stop in any laybys that I remember, certainly not for 2mins then another 2mins driving, can anyone help me with an explanation ? heres a pic of my printout.
Have a made some kind of cockup or is there maybe a fault ?
There is a fault. Your tachograph is automatically recording break when you swith your ignition off. Its not supposed to do this as you could ‘potentially’ be summonsed for incorrect use of your mode switch !! Mine does this too, as do many others. But, leaving that to one side for now as its a protracted argument that could go on…
You need to tell your agency that you have not ‘taken’ 186 minutes rest during your ‘shift’ ( i get it to 184 mins, maybe my maths is wrong), you have ‘recorded’ 186 mins during your shift, which is very different to ‘TAKING’ rest.
It looks clear to me that you took a 51 minute break starting 12:59 and ending 13:50 . The rest (pardon the pun!)seem to be a consciquence of switching your ignition off.
To be frank, if, from looking at your printout they need to know why you took it i’d guess they havn’t a clue how to read the data from a print out and what it means. Just how this helps you if you don’t know what you’re talking about i don’t know !!! This is a hard task, you don’t know and they don’t know !! This is a tall order !!! But try this…
i have taken a break of 51 minutes during my shift starting at 12:59 and finishing at 13:50, the rest is a result of a tachograph that records break everytime i switch my ignition off and it doesn’t notify me that it has changed mode from what i last set it to.A brief examination of my printout will confirm this.
The tacho is a VDO 1381 and from the calibration date shown under the sixth data delineator I’ll guess that it is one of the v1.3a’s where the default activity recorded when the ignition is switched off is ‘rest.’
Don’t think you have done anything wrong, including drivers hours, the break of 51 minutes after 2 hours 12 minutes driving ‘wipes the slate clean.’ In the second block of driving you only perform 4 hours 6 minutes driving.
Be careful with tachos that default to ‘rest’ when the ignition is switched off. If you are doing some work, for example loading or unloading the trailer, effectively you are not recording activity correctly. I’m told that you can change the mode just before the display goes blank, but cannot confirm it as I haven’t played with the v1.3a yet.
Regarding the agency. Just tell them that it’s a v1.3a and that it records ‘rest’ as soon as you switch the ignition off.
Mike-C got the answer whilst I was still typing. However, there is no fault with the tacho. The Technical Committee accepted that Vehicle Units could be set to record any chosen activity (except ‘driving’) when the ignition was turned off.
If your agency get really uptight about it PM me and I’ll give you my number and they can talk to me about digital tachographs. After 3 days on my pet subject they may wish they’d never asked
geebee45:
However, there is no fault with the tacho. The Technical Committee accepted that Vehicle Units could be set to record any chosen activity (except ‘driving’) when the ignition was turned off.
Pity they didn’t get the regulations amended to that effect too !! Right now its not operating to type aproval !!
geebee45:
If your agency get really uptight about it PM me and I’ll give you my number and they can talk to me about digital tachographs. After 3 days on my pet subject they may wish they’d never asked
Yeah, pm me about it too ansd i’ll have your ears ringing !!!
i drive a MAN truck that defaults to rest when you switch the ignition off…got it wrong a few times at the start but now ive been driving it for a while i dont forget anymore.
when you switch off the rest symbol flashes a few times then it stays on…you need to switch to other work or poa while its flashing.
i worked on the agency a while back for a company with a fleet of 58 plate dafs…the first batch defaulted to other work…the 2nd batch defaulted to rest…so you never got chance to get used to them.
I drove a merc that defaulted to rest with ignition off, I was told it was because it was a unit for adr and there is a symbol on the top left of the unit.
We had the same problem when we got our new units ie tacho going to rest as soon as the ignition switched off. It used to catch me out all the time. They said it was because they were DAF units the tachos were programmed to Dutch local tacho rules . Just a case of going to a workshop/tacho centre and getting the tacho reprogrammed. Only takes about 5 mins if that.
I have encountered this problem on both Mercs and Dafs I write on the back of the printout and on my timesheet, “Tacho Error. defaults to rest”
I base this on the VOSA publication “Rules on Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs” which states, “Mode switch default: Note that digital tachographs will default to rest when vehicle stops, and drivers must use the mode switch correctly to ensure the the rest and break periods are recorded correctly.”
As has been mentioned, the default to rest applies to ADR vehicles.
I have driven 72 different vehicles in 156 days and it is not easy to recall which ones default to what mode. perhaps if the Tachos had been positioned where they could be read easily or were equipped with illumination with sidelights on then many errors could be avoided.
Pity they didn’t get the regulations amended to that effect too !! Right now its not operating to type aproval !!
Unfortunately it does meet Type Approval. The VU has been granted a Security Certificate, a Functionality Certificate and an Interoperability Certificate and therefore reaches the standard for Type Approval to be granted.
The Regulation; (EC) 1360/2002 merely requires that when the VU no-longer receives impulses from the Motion Sensor it defaults to record ‘work’ to Slot 1 (the drivers’ slot). The Regulation says nothing about what should happen when the ignition is turned off, so strictly speaking, the automatic default to break / rest when the ignition is turned off is quite legal. Just one of those things that you wished had never happened.
This automatic change has another downside. If you put the ignition on, for example to wind down the window to ventilate the cab whilst having your break, the mode recorded will change to that being recorded prior to the ignition being turned off, this will probably be ‘work.’ So you now have an ‘interrupted break,’ which may cause all sorts of problems.
By the way, don’t blame VDO for this one, the French thought of it first. Apparently their drivers were finding it difficult to use the mode switch correctly
on the MAN i drive once its on rest after switching the ignition off it stays on rest even if you switch the ignition on again…it only changes either when you alter it manually or drive away.
Thanks for all your advice everyone, the unit in question was probably a rental for the christmas period so its probably gone back already.
Hopefully won’t have any bother with it again
. Just a case of going to a workshop/tacho centre and getting the tacho reprogrammed. Only takes about 5 mins if that.
