I write this because need advice regarding my situation. I working for stagecoach driving buses on domestic rules, non of the buses have tachograph. Last week I received the letter from company regarding my tacho card, and get two options:
Send card back to you dvsa
Go nearly 20mil to another depo to read card.
My question is: they cane legally take equipment off from me?
If I drive on domestic rules and don’t use my tacho card at all now, do I need still scan?
I’m not happy what they doing cane you help me with that please.
The tacho card is yours, so no company can actually take it off you.
You don’t need a card, but want one to hand in case you need to change jobs, or whatever? Understandable.
The company wants and needs to see that you are not working illegal hours, so needs access to your card.
If you have a card then a company can ask for it to be downloaded. It is up to the company to download the card, and you only have to make the card available for downloading.
If they are too tight to supply a reader at your depot(?) and the download facility is 20 miles away, and they instruct you to use that, then they must pay your time and expenses in travelling there, I would have thought, that is part of your work.
However…for an easy life…card readers are available quite cheaply now, (less than a 20 mile trip cost) so maybe download your own card and just send the data to them every month.
In a nutshell the company should provide you with the facility to download at the location you work or alternatively provide you with the transport necessary to go to the other location and they should pay you for your travelling time there and back.
However, in practical terms, if you have no intention of driving in-scope while you are working at the company, you have no use for a driver card. For the sake of having an easier life it may be easier to just surrender your driver card.
You could go down the route of taking your card out and saying to whoever is behind the desk ‘here is my driver card available for download’ after every shift or once a week or whatever. This may be perfectly valid, but it wouldn’t be a good way of keeping a low profile.
im not sure about domestic rules i have never worked under them. But from what i have read on here isnt a log book sufficient for recording your activities.
If so why do they need to read the card especially if there is no tacho to record anything on it?
coops, if the driver did a shift somewhere else that was in scope of the EU rules, then it has a knock-on effect on other aspects of his/her week, even under domestic rules.
They cannot legally tell you to drive to another depot to download your card, unless you are driving their bus - you would need business insurance on your car
Go online and look for free legal advice from an employment-law solicitor, I can recommend Castle Associates as they once gave me excellent free advice.
You’ll need software to read the card and to be able to extract the data in a .ddd format.
Seriously, not having the card reader at your depot is their problem not yours, and I mean legal problem, the car business insurance issue is your protection, police, DVSA et al will all back that up. You can drive their bus to their depot, no problem, just not your car.
The card is yours and it is your responsibility to make sure it’s downloaded. The company are providing you with a location to do it were they keep track of records. For your info when I worked out of Blackwood on loan, ever 28 days I had to travel to Cwmbran to download my card. Saves you hassle in the long run. Better that way in case you need to change jobs. You don’t have to apply for a new one.
And if the card is to be “presented for download” 20 miles away, then the driver needs to do that.
The time taken to do the trip is duty time and should be paid.
The transport should be provided by the company, or reimbursed as an expense if the driver provides it.
NB. As Zac has already pointed out moving between locations as part of your job (going from depot to another office to download card) is probably Business use and most insurance will not cover it.
Don’t just use your own car unless you are covered!
Having thought about it, if there is an exclusivity clause in the contract saying you are not doing any other work, then, to be fair, hanging on to the card is a pointless exercise.
If the employment comes to an end, a new card can be obtained at low cost.
Is @mateoch working under EU rules so that he needs to use his tacho card?
He isn’t clear about that. Maybe still not under EU rules but card needed for insurance?
If under EU rules for one day, than EU rules will apply for all his work that week, and he won’t be able to run under Domestic rules for his normal work, will he?
That is all a separate issue to card downloads, but could be relavant to him being legal.
First of all, I should point out that DVSA are not able to intervene in , or comment upon, any disagreement between employer/employee, or any contractual arrangements.
Q. My question is: they cane legally take equipment off from me?
A. The operator cannot indefinitely retain your driver digital tachograph card. Operators must download data from driver cards:
First of all, I should point out that DVSA are not able to intervene in , or comment upon, any disagreement between employer/employee, or any contractual arrangements.
Q. My question is: they cane legally take equipment off from me?
A. The operator cannot indefinitely retain your driver digital tachograph card. Operators must download data from driver cards: