Old fashioned is best
Page 17
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your comment "Keep up with the charts" (CM 4-10 August) made sensible reading as regards to checking tachographs, but it doesn't always follow that to have charts analysed by an outside undertaking means what they find is correct.
The person who is doing the analysis can only go by what the chart has on it: if a driver fails to alter his mode switch and still record this as driving, this will indicate a possible offence.
When I worked for the Department of Transport and the Vehicle Inspectorate, we never took a computer printout, as wrong.
In one example a driver was alleged to have completed over five hours driving without a break. Reading the tacho by oldfashioned hand analysis, he had only done :V hours driving with more than enough breaks. Another instance was where a driver had two breaks in the 4Y2 hour driving period. But looking at the first break of 20 minutes, this had been broken twice by vehicle movement there was not even a full 15-minute break during this time. So he had a driving period of 4Y2 hours with only a 25 minute break at the end of it.
When analysing tachos by hand you don't always watch the mode switch reading but look for a speed and distance trace as well. It can show up faults which a computer operator can miss.
Len Wright New Costessey, Norwich,
Irish troubles
T would like to draw your lattention to the way I believe Irish hauliers are being treated by the authorities in the UK.
I could describe a catalogue of instances but I think one will illustrate my grievance. It was my second day back on the road after a two-week holiday when I was pulled over by a police motorcyclist for apparently travelling too slowly (1 was doing
105k m/hr) and appearing to be overweight. Despite weighing in at only 4a12 tonnes, I was taken for a ministry check.
There were seven Irish trucks, one French and one Dutch—not one English truck. After a thorough check of the truck I duly produced my tacho charts for that day and the previous one. The officer refused to believe I was on holiday for two weeks before that, and told me to park up for 24 hours. Fortunately the depot phoned me at that moment, (the officer answered it before I had a chance), and confirmed I had been on holiday. I was arrested for being overweight and taken to a special court where I was not allowed to hear the charges. I sucessfully contested the charge that! was overweight in total, but they fined me .000 for being overweight on the second axle. Despite the fine being paid by 17:00hrs I was not released until 19:00hrs and was then told to take two tonnes off the second axle, but not to redistribute it despite being within weight in total.
Incidents like this seem common among Irish drivers and amount in my mind to discrimination against Irish truckers.
David Whyte
David Whyte International Transport, Co Wicklow; Eire