The fact that digital tachographs round up to the nearest minute when a driver stops is well known. It is such an issue that earlier this year the Road Haulage Association and Vosa ran a trial involving hauliers on multi-drop work using analogue and digital tachographs at the same time to compare the difference in timing.
Results from this trial have yet to be released but in the meantime the European Commission has recognised that drivers making deliveries that would fall within their
4½-hour driving limit with an analogue tacho can find themselves over the time limit when using a digitach on the same round. As a result it is to publish guidance on digitachs for enforcement agencies across the Continent. This interpretation of the law allows drivers 15 minutes' leeway, as long as they can prove they have been making multi-drop deliveries.
According to the Freight Transport Association the tolerance might be applied as a deduction of one minute for each block of driving time between stops, with a maximum of 15 minutes per 4½-hour period of uninterrupted driving. Enforcement officers will be expected to exercise their discretion based on the circumstances and evidence made available to them (such as proof that the driver was making frequent multi-drop stops), as long as road safety is not compromised. Joan Williams, head of road freight and enforcement policy at the FTA, says the EC has agreed that enforcement agencies across Europe
should allow multi-drop drivers to exceed the 4½-hour driving limit by up to 15 minutes.
"I think this issue was pushed to be discussed by the EC by Belgium, where there has been a big move to ensure drivers are compliant with the readings on the digitachs," she says. However, Williams does not expect the guidance from the EC to make much difference in the UK, simply because Vosa has already taken a pragmatic approach to the rounding-up issue. Jack Semple, the Road Haulage Association's director of policy, agrees that the EC has been flexible by recognising that digitachs round up by allowed the extra 15 minutes per 4½ hours so long as it is backed up with suitable evidence. "However, the EC has completely rejected the idea of giving digitach users an allowance of extra minutes simply because the digitach records extra time compared to the analogue tachographs," says Semple. "Fifteen minutes is a fairly narrow addition, but it will be useful nonetheless."
And, like Williams, Semple notes that Vosa has taken a sensible approach and given drivers using digitachs the benefit of the doubt so far. He shares her conclusion that "it will only make a small amount of difference to a few operators". While the guidance is meant to ensure all enforcement agencies take the same approach, it will not have the force of law. Instead it could serve as a legal defence. Karen Crispe, director at tachograph specialist Tachodisc, says it's good to see the industry move so quickly to address the rounding up issue: "We have seen genuine cases where customers have experienced differences between the way analogue and digital [tachographs] record, even though they have done the same trip. This has meant customers have had to make allowances in the way they plan their deliveries."
She adds that the EC clarification is still open to interpretation by local enforcement officers and hopes more information will come from Brussels in the coming weeks on how the period of grace should be enforced. Vosa declined to comment but a DfT spokesman says: "This guidance was agreed by member states, including the UK, at a meeting on 29 October 2007 by the EC. "The intention is to ensure that a consistent approach is adopted throughout the EU for enforcement purposes. Vosa will enforce accordingly, but [its personnel] are already encouraged to exercise an element of discretion before taking enforcement action."
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