Veederloot times it right
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How will the controversial new tachograph legislation, which came into force yesterday, affect the operator? Commercial Motor talked to VeederRoot, the UK's only tachograph manufacturer, to find out.
• Independent tachograph repairers have attacked the new tachograph legislation, alleging it unfairly favours the large tachograph manufacturers.
Since 31 January, it has been illegal for a tachograph to be repaired by someone not accredited with quality standard BS5750 part two. It is also now an offence to drive a vehicle knowing that an illegal repair has been carried out. Drivers who do so, face fines of up to 22,000 or up to two years' imprisonment.
The independent repairers say it is too expensive to gain the quality standard, and they claim the Department of Transport ignored them when introducing the requirements, following pressure from the manufacturers.
Others argue that the tachograph is on the way out and that the legislation is too late.
Bob Arbury, sales and marketing director at VeederRoot, the UK's only tachograph manufacturer, disagrees, arguing that modern tachographs are complex units and should only be handled by qualified dealers. V-R's Dundee factory, which has already won BS5750, produces around 60,000 tachographs each year, roughly a quarter of which are remanufactured units. The new units are supplied as original equipment to a number of truck makers including Iveco Ford, Leyland Daf, Renault, Scalia and Volvo.
"Our objective is to ensure that repaired and remanufactured tachographs are to the same standards as those we expect from a new unit," says Arbury. "Our latest 8300 electronic tachograph cost between 21 million and 22 million to develop, and so it is important that staff at our network of 155 centres throughout the UK are fully trained to install, calibrate and inspect the units." There are regular training courses run at Dundee.
Arbury believes that un trained independents cannot hope to offer a comparable level of service: "They may think they have traced a fault and corrected it, but there is a good chance that there are other problems, which will soon show up. That's when they come back to us.
"Our centres will accept minor repairs, but experience has shown us that when there is a major defect, the unit must be totally dismantled and thoroughly inspected. Parts that are not as good as new are discarded, and the tachograph is remanufactured here in Dundee with the same 12-month unlimited mileage warranty that we offer on new units.
"Every day that a high-value truck is off the road, it is losing the operator money. That is why we offer a very quick turn-around at our centres: we aim to calibrate, test and seal
an exchange tachograph in little more than an hour, and we charge 2200 for the remanufactured unit and 228 for installation. For that, you get a proper job." Arbury denies that the manufacturers put pressure on the DTp to introduce the legislation. "We were consulted, of course, but we never made any demands of them. I don't think you'll find that the DTp is easily pressurised," he says.
He also dismisses claims that tachographs are likely to be rendered obsolete by in-cab computers. "Tachographs are constantly developing. In the past 20 years we have seen mechanical tachographs largely give way to electronic units, and now the latest models like our 8300." V-R still produces mechanical tachographs, but in dwindling numbers.
"Certainly you should expect to see a new generation, with advances in solid-state electronics, but they will still be tachographs," says Arbury. "As long as the police or DTp inspectors require records, there will be a need for tachographs."
El by Gavin Booth