1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190 
Nothing silly about enforcement
Page 28
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I WONDERED IF I might take issue with a couple of points made by Ralph Ingham-Johnson (CM 19 July). in particular his assertion that enforcement officers engage in "a silly season-.
With over 9,000 convictions of commercial drivers a year (for offences ranging from speeding to tachograph offences, as well as Working Time Directive and drivers' hours offences). no enforcement agency needs to engage in a silly season — the drivers line themselves up in the shooting gallery anyway.
The second point he made was about the need to keep tachographs for longer being used by DfTNosa as a -rich harvest of infringements".
As I recall, the need for a driver to keep more tachographs was simply to bring the use of analogue tachos in line with digital ones.
The solution to Mr Ingham-Johnson's problem must therefore lie with the operators buying more vehicles fitted with digital tachographs or even retrofitting them.
However, as regularly reported by CM, the numbers of new vehicles sold last year fitted with an analogue tacho reached an all-time high as operators flocked to avoid the new technology. Moreover, if you look at the number of employers that admit to not offering their employees additional training (43%. CM 19 July), it is a fair assumption that an awful lot of employers don't pay much attention to the need to train their drivers in tachograph use.
While enforcement might be down to Vosa, if employers supply sufficient training, the likelihood of a driver committing an offence must be diminished.
Robert Roweth
County HCV route manager Cambridgeshire County Council