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Revision of drivers' record regs urged

10th September 1971
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Page 20, 10th September 1971 — Revision of drivers' record regs urged
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

After 18 months' monitoring FTA seeks six major changes

• The FTA has put forward to the Department of the Environment a detailed case for the re-examination of the goods vehicle drivers' records regulations. After monitoring the records regulations in operation for the past 18 months since their introduction, the Association has come to the conclusion that six major aspects of the requirements need revision.

These six aspects concern the issue of record books: entering the driver's home address; recording short driving periods; exemptions from record keeping; preservation of records; and checking of records. Details of the case put by the FTA are as follows:

Issue

Where a driver works for two or more employers the regulations require the first employer to issue the record book. Problems can arise as a result of this ruling, particularly in cases where a driver is not required to keep records during the course of his main employment but then comes within the scope of the regulations when he takes a second, part-time job.

One example quoted by the FTA concerns milk roundsmen who, during the day, drive only small goods vehicles which are exempt from operators' licensing. They are not, therefore, required to keep drivers' records and the company concerned does not issue record books.

However, some roundsmen undertake part-time work late in the day or at weekends which involves the driving of 0-licensed vehicles. This second employment brings them within the scope of the drivers' records regulations, and it is the first company, which itself has no need for record books, that must issue the necessary record book.

An employer is already required to ensure that his driver enters a correct record in his record book and it is suggested that this responsibility should be extended to ensuring that, when necessary, the driver has been issued with a record book.

Home address

The requirement for a driver to enter his home address on the record book cover should be dropped as it serves no useful purpose. Display of the address in this way could well be prejudicial to the safety both of the load and of the driver himself. Criminals are continually on the lookout for leads such as this, and the potential hazards where high-value loads are involved are obvious.

Short drops

Where an operator's delivery pattern is based on a large number of short drops it is usually necessary. to comply with the law, to instruct drivers to record each short period of driving. The concession allowing a driver to enter a number of consecutive driving periods, separated by intervals not exceeding 15 minutes, as one continuous period at the wheel is a valuable one. Its application is, however, limited by the fact that it cannot be used in cases where the total driving time thus indicated could exceed the 10-hour daily driving limit.

In such cases the Association suggests drivers should be allowed to record the short breaks as driving time and to record separately the total number of deliveries during the working day and the total time spent on this work. This additional entry would serve as proof that the 10-hour driving limit had not been extended and save a considerable amount of tedious paperwork.

Exemptions

Clarification of the term "normally used" is asked for by the Association in relation to a vehicle's operating centre. Uncertainty about this definition is causing discrepancies in the application of certain concessions to the rules.

Regulation 12(2) of the Drivers' Hours (Goods Vehicles) (Keeping of Records) Regulations 1970 provides exemption for drivers who on any day neither "drive a vehicle . . . for more than four hours" nor drive "outside a radius of 25 miles from the operating centre of the vehicle .. .".

A case was recently brought to the Association's notice where a vehicle was transferred from a depot in one traffic area to a depot in another area and then operated within a 25-mile radius of its new base. The driver, who did not exceed four hours at the wheel on any one day, did not therefore keep a record. Shortly afterwards a charge was brought against the driver for failing to keep a record, on the ground that he was operating outside a 25-mile radius from the vehicle's operating centre.

Many firms with a number of bases are in the habit of moving vehicles from one depot to another to allow, for example, vehicle overhauls and vehicle testing to take place. The replacement vehicles are. however, not generally transferred from one operator's licence to another where different traffic areas are involved since they are usually returned to their home depot within the statutory three-month period. In the light of the case mentioned there would seem to be doubt about the legality of not keeping records in cases where the drivers remain within the specified limits. There are many instances similar to the case cited where vehicles are permanently transferred from one traffic area to another, arid similar considerations will apply.

The question hinges on the definition of "operating centre" which is contained in section 92(1) of the Act and, in particular, on the concept of "normally used". It is clear from section 61(2Xb) that a base becomes an operating centre under the terms of the Act once a vehicle is normally used from there, regardless of whether the vehicle is presently specified on another licence. The absence of a definition of "normally used" is, however, creating problems such as the one mentioned and the FTA feels that some further clarification of this point is necessary, not least to ensure uniform interpretation throughout traffic areas, which appears to be lacking at present.

Preservation

The regulations require completed record sheets and books to be retained for six months, and for a further six months if so required by the Licensing Authority or the police. The Association has pointed out on a number of occasions that this ruling creates severe storage problems, particularly for larger firms with perhaps hundreds of drivers. The Association can see no need for both record sheets and record books, which of course contain identical entries, to be retained for this period and therefore suggests that the record books themselves should be able to be disposed of after one month has elapsed, with the record sheets being retained for three months and for a further three-month period if so required.

Checking

Employers are required to examine and sign returned record sheets within seven days of receipt. It has always been the Association's understanding that if an employer notices any mistakes on checking a record, they should be marked in some way and the driver in question notified of his errors. However, it is understood that in one traffic area the official attitude is that in such a case the record sheet should be reinserted in the book, together with carbon paper if necessary, and the driver told to make the necessary amendments and to initial them.

The adoption of this practice could lead to widespread abuses as enforcement staff would have no way of knowing whether the amendment had been made by the driver at the time of the error or subsequently. Indeed, says the FTA, an offence would appear to be committed against Regulation 3(1) of the Drivers' Hours (Goods Vehicles) (Keeping of Records) Regulations 1970, since the driver would not be keeping a current record. In any case, the potential difficulties arising from such a practice—for example where the records are checked and preserved at a different location from the operating centre—are obvious.

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