PUTTING THE CLOCKS BACK
Page 3
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• If a tachograph chart is produced with its location hole in slightly the wrong place, time recordings on that chart can be inaccurate by as much as 30 minutes, according to evidence from a Dip inspector during a recent court case. Given the current level of interest shown by the authorities in cases of excessive drivers' hours, this is worrying indeed.
Firstly, there is the worry that items as vital as tachograph charts could be made inaccurately. The tachograph is a precision instrument whose accuracy must, by law, be checked regularly. That accuracy is worth nothing if the chart on which it records is itself inaccurate. One might as well replace the stylus with a felt-tip pen.
Secondly, there is the worry that the inaccurate readings from such inaccurate charts might be used in evidence against a driver. A single apparent over-run of 10 minutes is unlikely to attract the wrath of a reasonable inspector or police officer — but that could not be said of a sustained apparent over-run of 30 minutes.
If such an error can be introduced by the use of a faulty batch of tachograph charts, and a driver or employer stands to suffer from that error, then he or she has every right to feel aggrieved. Tachograph charts are supposed to be produced to a standard, and the policing of compliance with that standard obviously needs more attention. No operator can reasonably be expected to minutely examine every chart for flaws before use: the only reasonable precaution to take is to insist on buying from a reputable supplier.
This fault must, of course, be corrected at the earliest opportunity. The drivers' hours legislation in this country is in enough disrepute already without there being questions over the accuracy of the tachograph, the central and essential equipment in the implementation of that legislation. Equally, the industry can ill afford any further loopholes through which unscrupulous operators might attempt to creep.