Iceland Swindon-News

Iceland at Swindon have just replaces all the Dafs with Renault premiums which have there own Digital Tachographs (not siemans). On making manual entries there is a difference which means making sure you click on rest between entries for the day before. This change has resulted in hundreds of infringements as if you leave it at other work you can’t change it And the last shifts hours are continued. This resulted in myself driving for 3½ hours before I had reached the gatehouse and an instant working time infringement. I took it on my self to take my card out and do manual printouts then and at the end of my shift so as to avoid a driving hours infringement although the transport office said I should have left it in and done the printout the same.

Just how important are doing Manual entries? In my day job none of the 6 drivers ever do manual entries —in fact most of them don’t know how and the transport office never queries it. I am constantly asked by other agency drivers at Iceland to help them do it- is it only big companies that bother?

The agency rates at all the same £9 all hours mon-fri, £10.50 all hours sat, £12.50 all hours sun, they put them up £2 per hour over Christmas. transport staff are on the whole Courteous and helpful, facilities good, the security is very tight and drivers have to do regular assessments. Of course the work is quite physical and can be dangerous unloading cages and pallets, they recently limited the amount of cages on the tail lift to 2 max and each vehicle has rubber strips to chock the cage wheels. Although sceptical at first i now use them all the time as a valuable aid to safely. All this after last year when they had a spate of accidents in the yard and the health and safety executive tightening up the place.
One other note- the transport office is an inviting place with the office staff behind glass partitions so everyone can see each other (and banter) not like the pokey hole in the wall offices in some places. This can make a difference between being a appreciated driver and just a grunt-also the office staff are at least 50% female which encourages the drivers to be more polite in manner and speech- lesson to learn other companies!

so what point are you actually trying to make, reads like a drunken ramble to me

Never bothered with manual entries or care too. Enjoyed my time at Iceland Livingston some years back, nice place to work, plenty long runs down to Blackpool, Sunderland etc.

They left us with normal Siemens VDO digital tachographs fitted not Renaults “own”

Steve

Before you start worrying about taking your card out.

“Unloading pallets and cages can be physical and dangerous”.

You haven’t lived mate.

Banquo:
which have there own Digital Tachographs (not siemans).

They ARE Siemens

Hope this helps

We have them at B&Q in Swindon now Everyone is making mistakes! Easy solution… No manual entries

great news. sounds like you’ve had the new batch of antitamper digi tachos. they are supposed to put a stop to magnet use. but they have ballsed it up already.

Banquo:
Iceland at Swindon have just replaces all the Dafs with Renault premiums which have there own Digital Tachographs (not siemans).

No they haven’t. It is only the 56 plate Dafs. There are still some 30 58 plate Dafs based at the site.

Banquo:
On making manual entries there is a difference which means making sure you click on rest between entries for the day before. This change has resulted in hundreds of infringements as if you leave it at other work you can’t change it

Rubbish. When you first enter your card the tacho defaults to rest for the intermediate period and you have to change that to the required mode, then change the time that mode ended. You do this for all mode types (rest, other work, POA) until you are up to date. and when you are up to time you get the option to confirm the entries. If you select no the process restarts.

banquo:
And the last shifts hours are continued. This resulted in myself driving for 3½ hours before I had reached the gatehouse and an instant working time infringement. I took it on my self to take my card out and do manual printouts then and at the end of my shift so as to avoid a driving hours infringement although the transport office said I should have left it in and done the printout the same.

Just how important are doing Manual entries? In my day job none of the 6 drivers ever do manual entries —in fact most of them don’t know how and the transport office never queries it. I am constantly asked by other agency drivers at Iceland to help them do it- is it only big companies that bother?

Having made the admission that you don’t know how to use the Renualt digitach head that you offer advice to others who also have no idea is a worry, and maybe answers the your own question about importance. Accurate record of work and all that. My advise would be to speak with one of the assessors, driver trainers or even a clerk who will point out a full time driver who has been trained and will help. there is also a PDF document available which helps.

I have a copy on my 'puter but can’t figure out how to post it here so maybe PM me with your e-mail and I’ll send you a copy.

banquo:
The agency rates at all the same £9 all hours mon-fri, £10.50 all hours sat, £12.50 all hours sun, they put them up £2 per hour over Christmas. transport staff are on the whole Courteous and helpful, facilities good, the security is very tight and drivers have to do regular assessments. Of course the work is quite physical and can be dangerous unloading cages and pallets, they recently limited the amount of cages on the tail lift to 2 max and each vehicle has rubber strips to chock the cage wheels. Although sceptical at first i now use them all the time as a valuable aid to safely. All this after last year when they had a spate of accidents in the yard and the health and safety executive tightening up the place.
One other note- the transport office is an inviting place with the office staff behind glass partitions so everyone can see each other (and banter) not like the pokey hole in the wall offices in some places. This can make a difference between being a appreciated driver and just a grunt-also the office staff are at least 50% female which encourages the drivers to be more polite in manner and speech- lesson to learn other companies!

There is some in there which is wrong in fact (it’s always been 2 full cages on a taillift platform, 4 if nested empties being reloaded for return to depot) and the opinions you express are not shared universally.

Thank you Wiretwister, Redboxer and everyone else for your comments, i stand to be corrected, this is then a new version of the seimens tachograph, the you tube clip is much easier to understand than the sheet they gave me containing 21 different button movements to add and prefix entries.
The ? symbol on the video clip (redboxer) is new to me. Do i therefore use this instead of rest symbol for rest days/holidays?
This procedure may seem very easy to those who use all every day but an old boy like me who knows only how to drive, like a computer it takes a while and repetition to understand it.

Cheers Banquo

Banquo:
The ? symbol on the video clip (redboxer) is new to me. Do i therefore use this instead of rest symbol for rest days/holidays?

If you drive digi all the time, use the “rest” symbol to account for the time between “ending” one shift and “starting” another. (daily/weekly rest).

If you use a mixture of digi/analog and then you would use the ? symbol,

e.g Digi Monday, Analog Tuesday, Digi Wednesday,
you would use ? to account for the time between finishing Monday and Starting Wednesday.

Correct ^ , the most important thing is to make sure you got it on bed for the end of last shift to the beginning of next shift bit, you should still do manual entries for showing other work but that’s not as important.