Need some advice really,
As i have a manual PCV licence (as well as class 2 HGV) My agency have started fulfilling some requests (via me) for PCV work…
anyhow, i got a phonecall for a job on Tuesday to drive an historic bus to transport a wedding party. the bus in question is a 1938 Bristol L5G (this vehicle to be precise bristolsu.co.uk/l/operatorde … aja132.htm) crash box, vacum brakes and all the rest of it! 
the vehicle is owned by a business and the company in question holds an operators licence, the bus is fully registered a PCV and is kept in accordance with the same regulations as the busses you see taking people to work every day!
Anyhow the vehicle is “tachograph exempt” due to its age. but as im driving it for hire and reward do i still need to keep a record of the hours i have driven ETC ETC… i understand i must keep within the scope of the EU regs, but if the vehicle is tacho exempt do i need to keep a record??
i was thinking of filling out manual entries on the rear of a tacho disk as an arse covering exercise, but is this strictly needed??
an odd one chaps, i know!
Cheers
B…
You need to keep a manual record, either in a record book or on the rear of a tacho disc. The vehicle is 100% correct to run without a tacho because of it’s age. I am TM for an operator who has a selection of interesting buses including a 1946 AEC which runs without tacho.
What you mustn’t do is to think of driving this non-tacho vehicle as a bit of “bunce” as far as the driver’s hours regs are concerned.
Hope this helps, Pete
An afterthought, the vehicle must display an O licence disc in the same manner as a “normal” coach. There are no relevant excemptions that can be claimed in that department. But, from what you say, it all sounds kosher.
Pete
Peter Smythe:
What you mustn’t do is to think of driving this non-tacho vehicle as a bit of “bunce” as far as the driver’s hours regs are concerned.
I would never think like that, I was fairly certain a record had to be kept, and the EU regs adhered too, but i wanted clarification on the subject!
Peter Smythe:
Hope this helps, Pete
absolutely it does! ill take a disk with me, and record the hours accordingly!
Now to master that crash box 
Cheers for that!
B…
Peter Smythe:
An afterthought, the vehicle must display an O licence disc in the same manner as a “normal” coach. There are no relevant excemptions that can be claimed in that department. But, from what you say, it all sounds kosher.
Pete
he is an O licenced operator and the bus is on the licence! I have been down and had a play for an hour to see if i could manage with the crash box! I dont remember seeing a disk though…
Cheers
B…
The system for O licencing varies between goods and passenger. With goods, the discs are vehicle specific but they are not on a PSV. Which means that discs can be moved between vehicles perfectly legally. So the guy could run this bus on a Saturday using the disc that’s been in a school bus Mon - Fri. What’s important is that the disc is there when the vehicle is in service.
Pete
Peter Smythe:
The system for O licencing varies between goods and passenger. With goods, the discs are vehicle specific but they are not on a PSV. Which means that discs can be moved between vehicles perfectly legally. So the guy could run this bus on a Saturday using the disc that’s been in a school bus Mon - Fri. What’s important is that the disc is there when the vehicle is in service.
Pete
ill check for it, although he only has 1 vehicle! he’s recently acquired another but its classed as a PLG vehicle, and needs reclassifying back to a PCV (and then inspecting/MOTing) before he can use it for tours!
Cheers for that
B…
alan you must keep a record of your driving as advised further up did you not get the letter from "mr charisma bypass " detailing one of our lads getting stopped on tacho exempt van work without his tacho card ? £250 fine and prohibition on van until he could provide records you would be in a similar situation if the vostapo pulled you the day after driving the bus or even whilst driving it