Drivers accused of tachograph fiddle
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by Miles Brignall
• Half of all UK truck drivers are tampering with tachographs to cover up excessive hours, according to Vehicle Inspectorate traffic examiners.
One examiner, who asked not to be named, says half the vehicles his office examines are running with, or have previously been fitted with, illegal devices. Fiddling is on the increase, both by removing fuses and by more sophisticated methods, he says.
The Vehicle Inspectorate is so concerned that it is pushing greater resources into enforcement in a bid to convince erring operators that they will be caught.
Hauliers have traditionally been reluctant to inform on lawbreakers in the industry but tip-offs from hauliers are on the increase. The examiner says: "We've been encouraged to take these calls very seriously and resources have been allocated to following them up." Some of the tachographbeating devices are switches to turn the graph on or off, enabling the user to produce a legal graph. Modern recorders are often linked to speed limiters which will also be rendered inoperative. "The vehicle owners are often the last to know what's going on," he says.
Examiners are undertaking more detailed inspections of company records and fuel charts to make sure mileages correspond with tacho records. Allan Campbell, scheme manager for roadworthiness based in Edinburgh, says the VI is obliged by an EU directive to carry out 1.4 million examinations of tacho charts each year. He detects a shift of resources towards tacho enforcement: "Senior Licensing Authority Ronnie Ashford has made no secret that he feels this is an area we should be targeting; this initiative may have come from him."