Hi all,
I have a question regarding my tacho/digicard. I had an assessment with a company over a week ago and that is the last time I inserted/removed my digicard. The rest of that week I didn’t drive or work at all. The following Monday (this one just gone) and Tuesday I had induction training/CPC which was just in the classroom. Today I went out with another driver just to observe what they did, I didn’t drive or do any actual work myself. I didn’t put my card into slot 2 as I was unsure how to do the manual entries (as explained below) and worried if the other driver tried to help do it he might ■■■■ it up and not give a toss.
Now, tomorrow I am out on my own and will of course need to insert my digicard. I need to add manual entries for the 2 days CPC and today but as a newbie I am pretty confused. Had a go on the simulator but it’s a lot of work/break/work/break etc to add for 3 days… I really don’t want to do it wrong and give myself an infringement!! After reading this forum I found that you can set the mode to ‘?’ and then do a manual print out and then fill it in on the back? Is that right?
So for example, from when I last took my card out to Monday morning (first day induction) is rest. Monday morning until tomorrow morning (start shift) can be put down as ‘?’. Then of course I need to add some other work to account for clocking in, getting keys, etc. What do I then print off, 24 hours? Manual entry sheet? And fill in the back?
Sorry if I didn’t explain myself very well, I’m running on not very much sleep. Thanks in advance!
edit:
So my weeks look like this…
Monday 23rd Sept: Assessment drive, last time digicard inserted.
Rest of week 24th Sept - 29th Sept: No work at all
Monday 30th, Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd: Induction/CPC/training
I have written in my diary all of the start times/break times. I had all my breaks to satisfy WTD.
TommyT8:
Now, tomorrow I am out on my own and will of course need to insert my digicard. I need to add manual entries for the 2 days CPC and today but as a newbie I am pretty confused. Had a go on the simulator but it’s a lot of work/break/work/break etc to add for 3 days… I really don’t want to do it wrong and give myself an infringement!! After reading this forum I found that you can set the mode to ‘?’ and then do a manual print out and then fill it in on the back? Is that right?
Don’t even think of putting manual entries entry into the tachograph for the days you was working but not driving HGVs, legally you can put the manual entry for days that you didn’t drive HGVs on a tachograph chart or printout, but it seems that the DVSA are happy to accept a diary/notebook entry for none HGV driving days so from what you’ve said it seems you’re already covered.
Legally you can put the manual entries for none driving days into the tachograph if you want to but the risk of mistake is great so it’s just not worth it.
Good luck with the job 
edit: By the way you don’t have to set the tachograph to ? to do a printout, you can do a printout at anytime but if you just want some printout paper tear a bit off the roll.
Thanks very much for the prompt reply tachograph!
So just to be clear, at a minimum, I have to put the entry for those non driving days as ? and I should be ok just keeping a record of what I did those days (start, break, finish) in my diary. Is that correct?
It has been stressing me a bit as I’m a new driver and there’s a load of stuff to learn at this place without worrying about this 
TommyT8:
Thanks very much for the prompt reply tachograph!
So just to be clear, at a minimum, I have to put the entry for those non driving days as ? and I should be ok just keeping a record of what I did those days (start, break, finish) in my diary. Is that correct?
It has been stressing me a bit as I’m a new driver and there’s a load of stuff to learn at this place without worrying about this
Yes that correct, though if you don’t do a manual entry the time the card was out should automatically be recorded as ? anyway, so you shouldn’t need to do anything except put the card in.
When you put your card in if you feel confident enough you could check what’s recorded for the time the card was out but don’t worry about it, the fact that you’ve even considered doing a manual entry puts you way ahead of a lot of drivers around here 
For none driving days you only need to keep a record of start and finish times so again you’re ahead of the game, the written records for none driving days are only so the DVSA can see that you’ve had the correct daily and weekly rest periods, you can bin those written records after 28 days or keep them it’s your choice.
Tachograph, thanks so much for your help!
I made a mistake today – I’m not sure if it’s gonna be an infringement or not. Yesterday afternoon I finished work at 1745. I was having my daily rest until starting again at 0400 this morning (10 hours 15 minutes rest, which is a reduced, but all good). This morning I went to put my manual entries in and screwed it up – I was on the phone to somebody talking about something work related (lesson learned) – basically now it is showing as ‘?’ from 1745 to 0400. I have done 2 print outs, one covering yesterday and one for today. I will fill the chart on the back and write an explanation.
My question is, will this flag as an infringement for my WTD as I didn’t get sufficient rest? Or will it know that ? might have been rest?
Thanks.
No problem, the DVSA assume that ? is rest 
If the tachograph is showing ? from 17:45 to 04:00 you can bin the printouts because they’re not needed.
tachograph:
No problem, the DVSA assume that ? is rest
If the tachograph is showing ? from 17:45 to 04:00 you can bin the printouts because they’re not needed.
Oh nice! Perfect, thanks again for your help… there has been a lot to learn recently and just want to make sure I’m doing it properly.