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There are new, higher levels of tacho compliance that could have a serious impact on operators and drivers alike. James Backhouse, director at lawyers Backhouse Jones, describes the changes.
What’s happened?
The government appears to have “snuck in” the most onerous EU requirements on drivers since the tachograph was first invented, and the Covid crisis seems to have provided the perfect cover.
In just 20 days back in August 2020, the Secretary of State (with the EU) brought into force a requirement which applies to all EU regulated drivers (regardless of how little EU-regulated driving they undertake), and which the DVSA interprets as a requirement on every driver to record every minute of every hour of every day – whether driving, undertaking other work, taking daily or weekly rest, on holiday or even on sick leave.
That record must be made using one of only three legally recognised formats – a tachograph chart, the driver’s digi-card or a printout from the digital device (log books, timesheets and other forms of record are not permitted).
From January 2022, the DVSA has changed its approach to these rules and has been enforcing them both at the roadside and during operator investigations. Further, the Traffic Commissioners are now referring to these obligations – and are exploring operators’ systems for effectively managing compliance with the rules – at Public Inquiries and Preliminary Hearings.
Nothing at all has been done to raise awareness of the new requirements. Apart from a subtle change to the DVSA’s online guidance documents (GV262 and PSV375), which was not specifically highlighted, we can find no evidence of any attempt to warn and educate the commercial vehicle sectors and the hundreds of thousands of affected drivers.
Furthermore, this change appears to have been brought in bypassing the trade associations in what must be the fastest non-urgent profound legislative change from the EU ever.
Normally, EU legislation comes into force after a long period of preparation and negotiation. Even then, there is normally a period of about two years between the publication of a new EU regulation and it entering into force. In this case, the draft regulation was issued on 15 July, published on 31 July and in force a mere 20 days later on 20 August 2020.
Why are the changes such an issue?
There are a huge number of impractical implications to these new recording requirements.
As a minimum, every driver (regardless of how little EU-regulated driving they undertake) has to have their current tachograph/digital record and records for the previous 28 calendar days available for production at the roadside. These records now include the 24 hours a day, seven days a week record required in accordance with the DVSA interpretation of the August 2020 changes. Immediately, therefore, all drivers need to record their daily rest every day and their weekly rest, holidays and sickness absence (in one of the three legally recognised formats).
The implications become far more complex when considering the position of occasional drivers (e.g. your part-time drivers who may also work in a shop, or who may undertake non-EU regulated driving for another employer) – they now have the huge burden of retrospectively recording their previous 28 days as a manual entry, printout(s) or analogue chart(s). These need to record – accurately – all the other work, breaks, daily and weekly rest, holidays and sickness absence for the entire period since they last undertook any EU-regulated driving. Read more
Source: RHA
