Tachograph question
 

Would the org - especially those of you with HGV licences - say that exceeding the tachograph hours for the first time is a sacking matter?

Re: Tachograph question
 

It depends on how far the driver was over his hours as there are some serious fines imposed by VOSA on both employers and drivers for such offences, but if it is a one off or a first time we would give a warning and put it down in our records as such. Hope this helps.

Re: Tachograph question
 

Fantastic:D Thank you:D

Re: Tachograph question
 

Agreed, depends on the extent and if this caused the company any problems. That can work both ways as companies can push to exceed hours if they need the unit or trailer back by a certain time.

My dad on occaision could bend the hours... but that was pre digi tacho

Re: Tachograph question
 

I act for a driver who was sacked for a first 'offence' - nobody was prosecuted etc and no risk to the operators licence either. I think they sacked him cos his face didn't fit.

Re: Tachograph question
 

I don't want to teach you to suck eggs. But you need to know the employers published policy. They could have had serious breaches in the past leading to prosecution and have therefore implemented a break it and your out policy.

At that point he knew the rules was guilty of gross industrial misconduct and rightly put out the door. Chances are though that there is likely to be other issues

Re: Tachograph question
 

I agree with tim, it depends on the company's policy. When I worked as an HGV driver about 5 years ago there were a few breachs by a few people but they never got the sack just a "written verbal warning"

Re: Tachograph question
 

It all depends on the company, and who deals with the tacho analysis. Drivers may get a warning the first time. Do it consistently, and the company can get a severe wrap on the knuckles from VOSA, who can revoke their operating licence, cut the no. of authorised vehicles, or even now take away the driver's concerned HGV licence for a few months...

Drivers who break the hours rules constantly and keep on getting away with a warning are the lucky ones.. Do it for the big supermarket chains, or the likes of Eddie Stobart, etc, and their public image is ruined, so they (employers) have the right to sack the rogue employees. All down to the individual firms

The firm I work for seems to like the analogue tachos the best, because they're more flexible, and you can work them to suit your business. Try that with a useless digital tacho, and the whole system goes into meltdown with the time schedules.... We have only 2 digi's in the fleet, and we hate driving the things, as they record everything.... not that the boss can view the data - the software required all costs extra, and he's as tight as a drum.... as long as he has the data file on his PC for VOSA to examine, using their own software, he's doing his legalities....

As long as the days (and nights) work gets done, my bosses don't give a hoot about how we work our tachos..... as long as they are legal when pulled over for a tacho check

Re: Tachograph question
 

I hate tachos.

Re: Tachograph question
 

You're not the only ones. Try interpreting a digi tacho roll after it's been spewed out of the tacho head. I've had traffics stop me in Glasgow, and only look at the round analogue paper ones, because they don't fully understand, or can work out your current driving times, etc from a digi printout... so what's the point in them?? To stop drivers exceeding their hours, and a decent weekly take home wage??

The prat in brussels who decided that even moving a digi truck forward even 6 inches can knock 2 minutes off the driving time out to be chained behind a truck, and dragged down the road....... Doing multidrop you can lose up to 1.5hours driving a day compared to an old (and superior) analogue.