Yesterday the boss pulls me in for a chat and wants to find out why i was 10 minutes late getting to lidl in Weston Super mare on Wednesday.
So I tell him because of traffic and the digi tacho adding up minutes the day before I ran out of driving time and didn’t make it back to the port to get my box on for the next day.
He looks at data from the tracker fitted to the lorry and tells me you only did seven hours on Tuesday, eight hours on Wednesday. blah blah blah.
so he tells me I should do what his other drivers do and time my actual driving myself as before when I was on an analouge tacho. He reckons that if vosa pull me over and my digi tacho says I have been driving for 5.30 hours without a break. But my £5 kitchen timer says ive only been driving for 4.20 then I will be ok. I asked him outright and said have you had drivers who do this stopped before and their tachos examined and he said “yeah yeah we’ve had the ministry in and it was all fine”
Surely this is bolox.
I think Im looking for a new job again. Are there any decent container firms out there?
You’re correct it isn’t true. What absolutley amazes me is the crap your gaffer is prepared to dish out just because a job is 10 minutes late. Makes you wonder if they actually have a life. You should of grabbed someone, anyone and said “come here and listen to this” and then got him to say it again 
Ask him to print you out the egg timer procedure in case you forget it !!!
I told my mate who also drives for this firm and he said if that is the case then he will bring in the clock that he uses to teach his kids to tell the time.
needless to say I will ignore the gaffer and do what I want to. They can only sack me once!
Its not the fact that I was ten minutes late at Lidl. it is the fact that they only accept goods from 6 am to 12am so i nearly missed my delivery.
Does any one know what the fines are for going over your 4.5 hour and 9 or 10 hour driving limits
joedwyer1:
Does any one know what the fines are for going over your 4.5 hour and 9 or 10 hour driving limits
A lot more than the lost business from Aldi and Lidl
It is the way they work in the UK and Europe, a free for all until lunchtime at least they do not have 15 minute booking slots and you are tipped as soon as you pull off the last pallet.
yeah some people moan about lidl and aldi. they are ok if they put you straight on a bay. its when I have to wait 5-6 hours on a Friday just to get on a bay that gets my goat. It’s ok for the gaffers they get demurrage. All I get is sweet fa apart from getting home at 10 pm on a Friday.
I quite like driving a truck its just a shame I have to deliver
joedwyer1:
Does any one know what the fines are for going over your 4.5 hour and 9 or 10 hour driving limits
If you get stopped in a check and dealt with by the fixed penalty system they are.
0 up to, but not including 1 hour £60.00
1 hour up to, but not including - 2 hours £120.00
2 hours and over £200.00
joedwyer1:
Yesterday the boss pulls me in for a chat and wants to find out why i was 10 minutes late getting to lidl in Weston Super mare on Wednesday.
So I tell him because of traffic and the digi tacho adding up minutes the day before I ran out of driving time and didn’t make it back to the port to get my box on for the next day.
He looks at data from the tracker fitted to the lorry and tells me you only did seven hours on Tuesday, eight hours on Wednesday. blah blah blah.
so he tells me I should do what his other drivers do and time my actual driving myself as before when I was on an analouge tacho. He reckons that if vosa pull me over and my digi tacho says I have been driving for 5.30 hours without a break. But my £5 kitchen timer says ive only been driving for 4.20 then I will be ok. I asked him outright and said have you had drivers who do this stopped before and their tachos examined and he said “yeah yeah we’ve had the ministry in and it was all fine”
Surely this is bolox.
I think Im looking for a new job again. Are there any decent container firms out there?
I would contact the VOSA Intelligence Officer on 0300 123 9000 or email them with details of the operator and OP licence number if you can to enquiries@vosa.gov.uk
I can guarantee that it will be dealt with and is absolutely confidential. VOSA views acts such as these together with putting undue pressure on drivers through unrealistic routing and timing very seriously I can assure you.
As has already been said; believe what the tacho has recorded as ‘driving time’ not some other device be it sophisticated vehicle telemetry or a simple egg timer.
The EU drivers’ hours rules are very specific in that they say quite clearly that ‘driving time’ is the time recorded automatically or semi-automatically by the recording equipment fitted in compliance with Annex 1 or Annex 1B of Council Regulation (EEC) 3821/85. In English that means; if the tacho, analogue or digital says you have driven so many hours and minutes, that’s what you have driven.
There has been a recent case in Magistrates Court where an Operator and Drivers have challenged digital driving times. They were all found guilty. However, the case is now going to appeal so I cannot say any more for the time being.
The only piece of advice I can give is ‘believe’ your tacho, not the rubbish the TM is coming out with.
I am interested in the spot finds,that are listed for driving over the permitted hours,can they put points on your licence as well? I was held up on the m62 monday and went over 10 hrs
bunk:
I am interested in the spot finds,that are listed for driving over the permitted hours,can they put points on your licence as well? I was held up on the m62 monday and went over 10 hrs
if a genuine unforseen delay happens, stop as soon as ya can and explain it on the back of the tacho / print out and sign it. you’re not going to get fined for being stuck in a traffic jam.
stevie