Use of mode switch. Article 15.3 (second indent) of Council Regulation (EEC) 3821/85 says;
Drivers shall;
operate the switch mechanisms enabling the following periods of
time to be recorded separately and distinctly:
and then goes on to describe the four pictograms; work, driving, rest and availability.
Section 97(1)(a)(iii) of the Transport Act 1968 make it an offence to use a vehicle where the Recording Equipment is not operated in compliance with Articles 13, 14 and 15 of (EEC)3821/85.
In other words, failing to use the mode switch correctly is an offence. The maximum fine is level 5 (up to £ 5000) per offence. I have prosecuted people for the offence, but not in isolation, there were other matters on the summonses as well.
Automatic mode change to ‘rest’ when ignition switched off. Strictly speaking there is nothing illegal about this, but it’s one of those things I wish had never happened. It just confuses folk, especially when one half of the fleet does it and the other half doesn’t. What I would be more concerned about is if you cannot change the mode to represent what you are actually doing once the ignition is off. If anybody wants to help me in discovering just what you can or cannot do with these tachos and you don’t mind me having a play with the tacho and are based near south Notts, please drop me a PM
Tacho charts may be used by a TC as evidence of speeding. The burden of proof in Public Inquiry is different from that in Court. In PI the level is; ‘on the balance of probability,’ in Court it is ‘beyond reasonable doubt.’ In a number of cases that have gone to PI the operating centres have been a considerable distance from the Trunk Road network, therefore the applicable speed limit for HGV’s is 40 mph. The charts showed that the vehicles were travelling between 50 and the limited maximum within a few minutes of leaving the yard, yet it would have taken 30 to 40 minutes to reach a road where the vehicle was legally able to do the speed shown. Under the ‘balance of probability’ the vehicle had to be speeding as it was not possible to reach the appropriate road within the time shown. Of course, the driver could claim that the start and finish locations entered on the chart were incorrect, but that opens up a whole new world of potential pain.
I aint going to argue with your knowledge geebee i can understand these rulings on tachographs where the “rest, POA and other work” are static settings.
Where it can be said the driver failed to change to the correct settings.
But in court or PI in this case though, as a driver i can pull into a place where i am about to go do a delivery. I back up onto a bay, engine still running quickly note down what time i have got there at, grab my gloves, glance up at the tachograph check its now on “other work” which it is. Then turn off the ignition tachograph illumination now goes dark, jump out my cab go do other work. Whilst ive turned off the ignition the tachograph mode setting has changed to “rest” and is flashing but since the illumination is now off and its dark i can’t see this.
Couldnt it be argued the tachograph itself has overidden the drivers selection.
I know its a kinda mute point because i think if this was the only offence and it wasn’t happening regularly i doubt it would end up in a court or PI.
The mode can be changed when the ignition is turned off, just display isnt lit up, this is what ive got to do when i drive these vehicles. Usually take key out the ignition and turn on interior lights make sure its on the right setting. But when your doing multi drop and your used to driving a vehicle where the mode settings is either static like the old tachographs or used to digitals where the mode goes to other work, its very easy to forget.
TBH i think digitals should have been like analogues, the later digital display ones where you select the mode you want to be on, “rest, POA or other work” and it stays on that mode when the vehicle is stationary. Think its a case of as per usual the powers at be designing these systems deciding the tachograph should know best rather than the driver. Then end up with this messy situation.
Just a point…once you switch the ignition off the tacho light goes out and its difficult to actually see what mde you are changing it too. I think you can wait (not sure how long it takes) and the light will come on with the ignition off but by that time you would of been into the weigh bridge office and collected your notes !!
We’ve lost the plot big time these days over the tacho and drivers hours reg’s, they were introduced originaly for very good reasons, firstly to ensure that drivers were working hard enough and secondly to make sure they weren’t working too hard, by driving or working exessively long hours so being a danger to others on the road.
what on earth does it matter what mode your on, the point is your’e not driving and the days of handballing loads on and off and roping and sheeting are gone,
the vosa aren’t with you all the time to check you’re on the right mode setting anyway so what’s the point of having it, its just more pointless nonsence. The drivers hours reg’s and tacho was never meant to be this complex, it’s become a huge milstone around the industrys neck, it could be structured far simpler and still do its job surely.
jonesie:
We’ve lost the plot big time these days over the tacho and drivers hours reg’s, they were introduced originaly for very good reasons, firstly to ensure that drivers were working hard enough and secondly to make sure they weren’t working too hard, by driving or working exessively long hours so being a danger to others on the road.
what on earth does it matter what mode your on, the point is your’e not driving and the days of handballing loads on and off and roping and sheeting are gone,
the vosa aren’t with you all the time to check you’re on the right mode setting anyway so what’s the point of having it, its just more pointless nonsence. The drivers hours reg’s and tacho was never meant to be this complex, it’s become a huge milstone around the industrys neck, it could be structured far simpler and still do its job surely.
I think all but a small minority would support your views.
However, if they were made in a simple format for everyone who dosn’t have 20 years experience as a barrister to understand then the ■■■■■■■■■ who interfere in our industry would have sod all to do.
The rules are way over the top and can be interpreted in so many ways that one judge may say no case to answer and another will say send him down.
It’s beyond a joke.
The only way you can be 100% legal in this industry is not to be in it.
it won’t matter the tacho switches to rest when the vehicle stops in traffic because unless you stop in traffic for at least 15 mins it won’t record it as a break.
I forgot to post back on this, after checking further the tachograph was as said by others defaulting to rest only when the ignition was switched off.
After driving the vehicle for 6 weeks I’ve gotten into the habit of changing the mode every time I switch the ignition off but as Mike said it’s a nonsense in the dark when you have to use the interior light to change the mode back to other work
I still think it’s dumb idea and a big step backwards
I reckon that in the future a lot of these tacho problems are going to be aggravated by different interpretations of the law amongst the police/vosa/tc’s from area to area.
An example being; I’ve had, over the years, the dubious pleasure of being pulled over and checked the length and breadth of the country, and with my analogue charts the only thing I’ve been picked up on is for writing in the centre field. Now I’ve been pulled and told that I should write a line denoting both the start and finish of duty, and then been pulled in another area and told it was an offence to mark the recording field of the chart!
So, two seperate areas, and two different interpretations of the law!
Personally by the way, I disagree with writing start and finish on charts 'cos the chart itself tells when you start and finish.
It is not illegal for your tacho to default to rest, but it has to be set that way at the request of your company, if it is set to default to rest you MUST manually switch to the correct mode. It is not illegal to mark the recording part of your chart with start/finish lines BUT they must not interfere with the markings made by the head. Hope this has helped.
jonesie:
We’ve lost the plot big time these days over the tacho and drivers hours reg’s, they were introduced originaly for very good reasons, firstly to ensure that drivers were working hard enough and secondly to make sure they weren’t working too hard, .
Im not sure that was ever the case, in fact I seem to remember there was a limit on your mileage if you ran on log sheets but you were allowed to drive more on a tacho.
tachograph:
If a vehicle is fitted with a digital tachograph the tachograph resets to “other work” when the vehicle stops moving, but the Siemens digital tachograph in a vehicle I’m driving at the moment automatically goes onto “rest” every time the vehicle stops moving, I know this isn’t supposed to happen but is it illegal even if I change the mode manually every time I stop ? (not very practical I know)
I want to get this sorted but as the tempory agency job could possibly become permanent I need to be a bit tactful about how I go about it, hence the need to know the law regarding the automatic change of mode.
This has been covered recently before. Are you sure it reverts to rest when you stop moving or just when you switch the ignition off? Ours revert to rest when the ignition is switched off. Apparently thats how they are programmed, they can be changed , at a cost. VOSA do not like the idea of them either. You’re in between a rock and a hard place though if you query it. Probably no gaffer will pay to have it changed as you can ‘just ensure its in the right mode’ for free !! If you where to be queried by VOSA about it and said it keeps doing it, then you’ve admitted you know about it. The thing is a load of crap !! I don’t believe its working to ‘type approval’ at all and someone should kick up about it. Appart from automatically recording ‘driving’ it should not make any assumptions of its own.
Bah !!
I tell you the real annoying thing about them. When you are shunting, every time you stop they add about 2 minutes to the driving time. I’ve done shunting before that is literally just around the corner. About 45mins was recorded on the PDA via satellite, but the digitacho was showing TWO HOURS driving, and that is what the powers that be go on. Why the hell can’t it record by the second? Surely in this day and age of technology they can sort this out!!!
i have had this problem at our firm, our fleet is made up of 35, 07 mercs and ten 08 mercs all digi tachs, all the 07 ones revert back to other work when you switch the ignition off, but all the 08 ones revert to rest which can catch you out when after a few weeks on a 07 you jump into an 08 one. when i complained about it my tm told me all trucks on a 08 or newer go onto break when the ignition is switched off and they are not prepaired to pay the £80 per vehicle to have them changed so they are the same as the 07"s.
