Re-calibrating tachographs
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AT THE CM Fleet Management Conference in October, Mr Yeomans was questioned about a legal requirement for tachographs to be re-calibrated after two years in service. The answers given by Mr Yeomans, and by a representative from one of the companies supplying tachographs, included some good management reasons for having tachographs recalibrated at two yearly intervals. What was not said, however, was that there is no legal requirement for this to be done. The EEC Regulation provides for two and six-yearly checks on tachographs, but DTp plans to introduce these requirements in the UK are not yet finalised, and the Department itself acknowledges that at present there is no effective requirement for such periodical checks in this country. It is important to note, too, that even the EEC Regulation makes no reference to the need for re-calibration at the two-year stage; this requirement is related solely to the six-year checks.
May I also refer to the question of operators' responsibility for checking tachograph charts. In his paper, Mr Yeomans suggested that in order to satisfy the obligation to ensure that a driver observed the hours laws, and completed a chart for every day, operators should check all tachograph charts. Mr Yeomans himself acknowledged that there is no specific legal requirement, and in FTA's view it is not necessary for operators to check charts to the extent suggested. Batch or random checking should suffice, with the all-important qualification that action can be shown to have been taken if such checking shows that problems exist.
W. MILLS Director of Administration and Legal Services Freight Transport Association Tunbridge Wells