I have yet to use a digi tachograph card and been watching videos online to get an understanding. It’s shown what is required in order to record the activity times but doesn’t explain why.
My question is…
When I start working as a driver and finish my first days shift do I just turn the engine off and remove my card, grab my belongings, check the vehicle over and leave ?
And then the following day do I put my card into the unit and record the time it took me to do my vehicle checks from the day before ( when I finished) and closing down, then move onto inputting my new start time or do I have to record my rest period. Or will it take that for granted ?
I’m lost and the videos show what needs to be done but doesn’t explain anything.
Yep, sounds about right.
Here’s what I do…
18:00 arrive back at depot, park on bay, pull card.
Go inside and hand all paperwork and stuff in.
18:30 clock out.
Next Day
Clock in, anytime before official shift time of 10:30. Let’s say I clock in at 10:00 today.
10:30 start to gather up stuff for the day, manifest, tools, HHT, phone etc.
11:00 out to puddle jumper. Card in.
Manual entry consists of…
Other Work from 18:00 yesterday, to clock out time 18:30
Rest from 18:30-10:30 today
Other Work from 10:30 today up to present time.
Drive on.
Other people may pop in and give you the correct procedure but that’s what works for me
And am I right in thinking that the only time it automatically records is when the card is left in the vehicle overnight ?
I’ve also seen that it changed between driving and other work automatically when your actually driving or stopping etc.
How long do you have to be stationary before it realises your not stuck in traffic and not doing other work
Not quite sure what you mean by 'automatically. It’s recording all the time your card is in.
Mine goes to Other Work within about 2 or 3 seconds, mebbe less, of stopping driving.
When I stop driving, for whatever reason, stuck in traffic, parked on a bay, it defaults to Other Work.
If you want it to go to Rest you have to push the button and set it yourself.
Put in card, use it for the say then once you’ve finished remove the card. You might need the ignition on to eject.
Next day…
Put in card and wait for it to ponder.
– If it asks “end of shift” with a time select “yes”.
– If it says “manual entry”, click ok then ok a few more times until it stops asking. That sets it to break overnight.
I’ll get moaned at for this since you should in theory record every second inc handing paperwork in etc etc.
Stuff that idea, make your life easy as you’ve got plenty to worry about and its very easy to screwup manual entries. So best avoid them for now and keep things straight.
Worry about manual entries later on as mentioned by Steve. VOSA really wont care esp as a new driver.
Settings:
It’ll auto set driving and other work as you go. They vary on how long it takes to realise you’ve started / stopped but its usually a second or so. Let it worry about that.
Only thing you need to do is switch to / from break when you want to do / stop doing other work.
Apparently it can be an issue if you don’t switch it to “rest” before ejecting - this was discussed on a CPC course last year, IIRC it shows on the next readout. Also, if you switch it to rest while you’re sorting your stuff out, it means that if you forget to take it out of the tacho (not that I’ve ever done that before… ) then tomorrow morning you’re not up the creek.
The last place I worked at I never did manual entries, or rather it wasn’t required or worth doing. When I had to start doing them (on an agency job last year) I found it a PITA.
Zac_A:
Apparently it can be an issue if you don’t switch it to “rest” before ejecting - this was discussed on a CPC course last year, IIRC it shows on the next readout. Also, if you switch it to rest while you’re sorting your stuff out, it means that if you forget to take it out of the tacho (not that I’ve ever done that before… ) then tomorrow morning you’re not up the creek.
The last place I worked at I never did manual entries, or rather it wasn’t required or worth doing. When I had to start doing them (on an agency job last year) I found it a PITA.
Zac_A:
Apparently it can be an issue if you don’t switch it to “rest” before ejecting - this was discussed on a CPC course last year, IIRC it shows on the next readout. Also, if you switch it to rest while you’re sorting your stuff out, it means that if you forget to take it out of the tacho (not that I’ve ever done that before… ) then tomorrow morning you’re not up the creek.
The last place I worked at I never did manual entries, or rather it wasn’t required or worth doing. When I had to start doing them (on an agency job last year) I found it a PITA.
Except you can’t start or finish a shift on rest.
Why do you say can’t you start or finish on rest?
I normally do that, and have never had any problems on that from analysis or roadside checks.
Zac_A:
Apparently it can be an issue if you don’t switch it to “rest” before ejecting - this was discussed on a CPC course last year, IIRC it shows on the next readout. Also, if you switch it to rest while you’re sorting your stuff out, it means that if you forget to take it out of the tacho (not that I’ve ever done that before… ) then tomorrow morning you’re not up the creek.
The last place I worked at I never did manual entries, or rather it wasn’t required or worth doing. When I had to start doing them (on an agency job last year) I found it a PITA.
Except you can’t start or finish a shift on rest.
Why do you say can’t you start or finish on rest?
I normally do that, and have never had any problems on that from analysis or roadside checks.
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It’s falsification of records. Simply the act of putting your card in /taking it out constitutes other work, not being on break.
Don’t know how many roadside checks you have managed to achieve in your time, but DVSA do take a very dim view on this. I know a company at Heathrow who had to pay up for this, a notice was posted in the drivers area shortly after stating that all drivers must show other work at the beginning & end of shift as an absolute minimum. They were fined for only having breaks & driving showing on the download, with no other work showing at all. How can you show your daily checks were done otherwise? What, you just showed up for work, had a break, then the 1st thing you did was drive few hours up the motorway. No chance.
I stand to be corrected, but I can’t see that flying for a minute. The Ministry / VOSA / DVSA, or whatever one calls them these days, as much a lot don’t like them, are no fools. Situation above was taken as blatant disregard of the rules and the company was subsequently taken to task over it and paid the penalty.
Will not show up on analysis / when you download card, as computer, ‘believes’ you… It only knows what you tell it after all.
steviespain:
Yep, sounds about right.
Here’s what I do…
18:00 arrive back at depot, park on bay, pull card.
Go inside and hand all paperwork and stuff in.
18:30 clock out.
Next Day
Clock in, anytime before official shift time of 10:30. Let’s say I clock in at 10:00 today.
10:30 start to gather up stuff for the day, manifest, tools, HHT, phone etc.
11:00 out to puddle jumper. Card in.
Manual entry consists of…
Other Work from 18:00 yesterday, to clock out time 18:30
Rest from 18:30-10:30 today
Other Work from 10:30 today up to present time.
Drive on.
Other people may pop in and give you the correct procedure but that’s what works for me
That’s how I do it and have never received any kind of negative feedback from a Transport Manager.
Ofcourse some places with horses and stetsons in the back would rather you didn’t record the other time between card out and shift end (Time to give in paperwork etc)
) then tomorrow morning you’re not up the creek.