Hi all.My digicard has malfunctioned along with many others no doubt 
.Going to have to send it of for replacement.My question is how do i get on over the water with just doing vehicle printouts.Am i going to get a load of grief if iām pulled.Going to best in holland monday for a tues delivery.Just wondered if anyone else has had any experience of it.It going to flash up driving without a card i know.And iāll be doing my two printouts but will this be enough?.Cheers.
One of our lads had this problem last week.
His card went ā ā ā ā up Monday morning in the yard. He tried it in another motor but it still wouldnāt work.
He was due to load for France on Monday afternoon.
Our boss belled the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt in Flensburg (German equivalent of DVLA) for their thoughts.
Their advice was: DONāT GO TO FRANCE!!
Although they stated that a printout should be acceptable when a digicard is defective, their experience has shown that the cheese eating surrender monkeys will trouser an exorbitant amount of folding beer tokens for such an āoffenceā although this is technically contrary to EU legislation.
Subsequent legal action āwould be nigh on uselessā as court costs would doubtless exceed the value of the original fine 
I would surmise that a similar situation would occur in Spain.
However, in more civilised climes (to wit, The Land of Clog), a printout, perhaps with a covering letter from the gaffer or a copy of the application for a new card, should suffice.
(Upshot of the above story: I met the other lad in an industrial estate in Baden Baden and we transshipped our loads with the Moffetts. He then toddled off to Stuttgart and I went to France)
thanks for that inselaffe.Donāt we just love the french. 
Wonāt be driving through there for long.So have to get a covering letter and hope for the best.
A couple of my workmates have recently had similar probs and drove with print outs and a covering letter while the French authority changed their cards. Both were stopped by the gendarmes and both got the āokā, but then again ours is a big French firm, may have been a different case if they were in foreign registered trucks?
Thatās the problem here, you never know how itās going to turn out, all depends on the gendarme you encounter
~ Craig
i would still carry the card and just apply for another and claim its lost, it will cost you Ā£20 but at least you have it on you if you get stopped. 
Graig,i used to open the cab door,reach out to offer a hand shake,say a few words in french goes a long way,most times i was there for a few minutes,go up with an attitude,then wonder why the fine is so much.
I had this problem last year. IIRC you send your faulty card back to Swansea, not sure if you can declare it faulty online, then run on printouts for up to 16 days, filling in the rear of the printout as you would on a tacho card.
I got stopped near Sunbilla in Northern Spain, Red Caps checked printouts,no problem.
I canāt see how any plod can do you unless there is a problem with printouts, there has to be a get out of jail period if the card goes wonky 
Got the form to fill in to send my card back.So think iāll send it of and do printouts.Will i only have to fill the back in for other work away from the truck?.So i do a printout first thing when i start and then another at end of shift?.
I did printouts at the end of each shift and filled the name, mileage etc on the rear of the printout as you do on a regular tacho card, including drawing a line on the graph bit indicating driving, rest and other work.
gram67:
I did printouts at the end of each shift and filled the name, mileage etc on the rear of the printout as you do on a regular tacho card, including drawing a line on the graph bit indicating driving, rest and other work.
You need a printout at start of shift and end of shift. You are told so in the rules, look it up.
There should be no need to draw a line on the back, as all the details are printed on the front, the same as any other printout.
I think you need a printout from both ends of your shift to duplicate proof of your start and finish mileage etc.
Simon:
gram67:
I did printouts at the end of each shift and filled the name, mileage etc on the rear of the printout as you do on a regular tacho card, including drawing a line on the graph bit indicating driving, rest and other work.You need a printout at start of shift and end of shift. You are told so in the rules, look it up.
There should be no need to draw a line on the back, as all the details are printed on the front, the same as any other printout.
I think you need a printout from both ends of your shift to duplicate proof of your start and finish mileage etc.
As Simon said thereās no need to write anything on the printouts except your name or driver card number and signature.
When you drive without a driver card you should take a vehicle printout at the start of shift, during the shift you should use the tachograph just like you would if you was using a driver card, so when youāre working the tachograph should be set to other work, when you have a break you should change the mode to break, when you finish the shift you do another printout, the activities shown on the second printout from the time of the first printout are your activities for the shift, your start mileage will be shown as the end mileage on the first printout and your end mileage will be shown as the end mileage on the second printout.
Doing it this way makes it easy for the authorities to check your daily driving/work record and keeps you legal.