Using the tachograph mode switch correctly is of critical importance, a transport tribunal stressed in dismissing a recent appeal by Ferguson Transport (Spean Bridge). The firm was appealing against a decision by Scottish TC Joan Aitken to cut its licence by four vehicles for six weeks, after traffic examiners identified 102 offences, including 37 of failing to use the mode switch to record other work and 37 of drivers taking insufficient daily rest.
The tribunal said that mode switch
compliance was crucial in terms of regulatory enforcement and that non-compliance meant it was impossible to assess working time accurately.
The main aggravating feature, it noted, was the company's long-standing instruction to drivers not to use their mode switches - it had emerged that with a couple of exceptions, almost none of the drivers at the firm were using their mode switch. A secondary issue, said the tribunal, was that the person responsible for checking tachographs had not received adequate training.
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