Newclass2:
I think I might just call the Dvsa and ask for some advice and own up to what I’ve done
Good God man! No no no. Let sleeping dogs lie.
After 28 days you can’t be penalised at the roadside, the worst they can do is, if you’re stopped and have some other infringement, they will subjectively TIC it, ie Take Into Consideration, and if the new offence was a case of they could give you a verbal warning or they could give you a GFP, they might on the basis of how they feel do the latter instead of the former. No major cause for concern really.
If DVSA came to the operating centre and started digging through paperwork as part of a bigger investigation, they might then consider escalating it, but only in the wider context of the situation.
For example, my TM client got investigated (before I joined them) because of a vehicle on the road with no MOT - that’s one of the TC’s Seven Deadly Sins. So, DVSA did a huge dig through the paperwork. They found multiple incidents of card pulling by various drivers, two of which were summoned to the TC, one didn’t turn up and was penalised in absentia, the one who did turn up got his entitlement suspended for 10 weeks. BUT… these guys were repeat offenders, not a one-off who fessed up to his TM and did printouts etc.
You know it was wrong, nothing can be done now, and you know now in another emergency situation to simply leave the card in.
Relax, try to put it out of your mind, as someone once said, there are two things that never come to pass: our worst fears and our greatest hopes.