hello, currently im driving buses on domestic rules, i keep my own ‘log book’ for reference, i think VOSA can ask you to produce last 14 days?
I used to have a digicard that stagecoach paid for that i had to download every monday even though i never used it.
the eventually asked us to return digicard for some reason, to begin with i totally refused as its my card but they made it really difficult for me and i ended up cutting it in half and giving them it back, and phoning up to make sure the powers that be know whats happened.
anyway, ive done my cat C and booked my cat C+E, once ive done that i had planned on job hunting, but think getting my digicard back would be a good idea. but chances are i wont get a job straight away so what are the legalities in owning a card but not using it and downloading it? i tried searching for answers but typing digicard download in returned masses of results.
ive posted this in new drivers forum because firstly im a new driver and secondly there may be other new drivers that have a card but still doing a job outwith driving. if they own a card where do they download it?
You are able to hold a digi card there is no law saying you cant in reference to downloading it if you have not driving a vehicle for 2 months then there is no need to … I have just taken up driving a couple of days a week again after 2 years and there was no information on it. no Issues.
stuartrobbie:
hello, currently im driving buses on domestic rules, i keep my own ‘log book’ for reference, i think VOSA can ask you to produce last 14 days?
I used to have a digicard that stagecoach paid for that i had to download every monday even though i never used it.
the eventually asked us to return digicard for some reason, to begin with i totally refused as its my card…
You should know you facts before entering arguments. It’s not your card, just like your driving licence it belongs to the Secretary of State for Transport. 
If you haven’t used the card, ever or since your last download, there is no requirement to download it.
If you haven’t used the card, ever or since your last download, there is no requirement to download it.
but Stagecoach were covering themselves against you moonlighting and then infringing daily/weekly rest requirements. That will almost certainly be why they wanted the weekly download.
All the best, Pete 
Peter Smythe:
If you haven’t used the card, ever or since your last download, there is no requirement to download it.
but Stagecoach were covering themselves against you moonlighting and then infringing daily/weekly rest requirements. That will almost certainly be why they wanted the weekly download.
All the best, Pete
And you cannot get another one while that one is still valid.
ok thanks for the info. i know i shouldnt have said MY card but its not THEIR card either! 
i cut the card in half through the chip when i gave it back to my manager so he couldnt use it. but if he hasnt reported it there is nothing on paper to say that the card isnt active. so obtaining another might be a problem? is there a way i can check its been officially returned? i thought about asking the manager himself but dont want to arouse his suspicions to me leaving soon.
when they asked us to download the cards they found some drivers had been driving elsewhere. Although legally hours wise they were probably breaching contract. i think it says we should not drive for reward elsewhere. one or two were also driving horseboxes too. 
so that explains the reasoning behind weekly downloads
Are we supposed to down load our digi cards every month 28 days ect . i work for three agencies and have never been asked by anyone to down load my card by the agents or the companies but i do however save all my analog tachos and do a print out every shift if i use my digi card .
regards Roy
I think the regs state that you must make your card available for download every 28 days. I read that as, if you have it available but nobody asks you - you’re in the clear. My firm wants digicards downloaded every week, but if the person concerned isn’t there on a a Friday when I get back- they’ll have to wait until sometime the following week…
YAMBOL57:
Are we supposed to down load our digi cards every month 28 days ect . i work for three agencies and have never been asked by anyone to down load my card by the agents or the companies but i do however save all my analog tachos and do a print out every shift if i use my digi card .
regards Roy
The card is supposed to be downloaded and you have to make it available to the transport company you were working for, not the agency. If you make it available and they choose not to download it then you have satisfied the regulations and they are the ones with the problem.
When you say you save all your charts do you mean until they should be returned or for longer. You should be returning them to the transport company you worked for no later than 42 days from the day after the latest date on the chart, again that isn’t the agency, and if you don’t you are leaving yourself open to a potential 4 figure fine.
Taking a printout every shift you use a digi tacho is just a waste of time and paper. Unless the printout is because you have to make a correction, explain a deviation from the rules or because your card has stopped working or been lost/stolen then they aren’t required and VOSA wouldn’t even look at them. All the info is on your card and will be on there for longer than the Statute Barred date for hours offences, which is 6 months.
Thanks for that coffeeholic
when i keep the anolog card i make shure that the company have a photocopy of it and wont leave the premacies untill they take one .
in fact i only carried for one company now who use analog and have now refused to do that job again because of the state of the truck . I.E no hieght warning in cab . mirrors that go round like the magic roundabout when your driving . fumes in cab . no rubber round gear shift where the wind and fumes come in 
. so have told the agency 3 times now no more of that …last time they said had been fixed and it had,nt . or if it had it was fixed by Bodgit & scarper …only small things but its MY licence that they are putting at risk …
YAMBOL57:
Thanks for that coffeeholic
when i keep the anolog card i make shure that the company have a photocopy of it and wont leave the premacies untill they take one.
No point, photocopies aren’t worth the paper they are… well photocopied on. 
The important thing is to make sure you return them in time, they don’t need a photocopy.
WOW didnt know that got some here about 4 month old the company is 40 miles in skelmasdale away so suppose i better post them . they never once asked for them . only asked to Photo copy them .but i should have guessed that by the state of the truck .
thanks for the help guys. Im re-applying for a digi card. so as long as i offer Stagecoach the chance to download it they dont need to accept the offer?
hopefully wont be there long now anyway.
stuartrobbie:
thanks for the help guys. Im re-applying for a digi card. so as long as i offer Stagecoach the chance to download it they dont need to accept the offer?
hopefully wont be there long now anyway.
You managed to escape yet??
not yet, got my CE in a few weeks, if all goes swimmingly i shall be going around all the yards not long after.
i thought i would put a wee update on this.
i cut through the chip before handing the card back to them. and never really done anymore about it, but ive since passed my Cat C and my CE is looming so i got the ball rolling again. i phoned DVLA and gave the advisor my story, they said phone this number… turned out it was vosa i phoned and they said it was a DVLA matter.
when i eventually got through to someone again at DVLA she had a bit more of a clue, and took my details and followed it up, she told me that my i had surrendered my card (and gave me the date - which was about a week after i handed it in )
so she told me if i needed another card it would need to be by post, luckily i had the form so i was to apply as if i was getting a new card, but not to fill out sections 3,4 and 5.
at the cost of £19-00 i am now receiving a shiny new card and the piece of mind that Stagecoach have infact done the right thing all along.