Bureau de change to a new Tactic) service
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FOLLOWING hard on the heels of the legislation which made tachographs compulsory in goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross [the Passenger and Goods Vehicle (Recording Equipment) Regulations 1979] there came a whole range of associated products and services.
A veritable industry sprang up, riding on the back of the tachograph; charts, storage cabinets, suspension files, seminars, analysers, books, drivers' chart wallets, training courses...
Many of these are worthwhile although a few seem to verge on overkill, merely cashing in on the tachograph. One of the biggest markets is in the field of tachograph chart analysis, either selling analysers or providing a bureau service for reading the charts.
The principle behind a centralised bureau service is simple; an expensive tachograph analyser can be used intensively and so operated more economically than each haulier {or coach operator) having a separate analyser. And, like any specialised service, it relieves the operator of the need to do the job himself — let the specialists take care of it.
When the Freight Transport Association decided to set up a tachograph chart analysis service for its members it did not want to introduce just another bureau service — there were already plenty of these available.' Instead, the FTA took a leaf out of its own Vehicle Inspection Service's book and chose to adopt the "We come to you" approach.
At first sight this seems a sledgehammer to crack a nut method; sending a man and an analyser is surely clumsier and more costly than the operator sending his charts by post to a bureau service.
The man responsible for the ETA's Freightcheck tachograph chart analysis service is David Green, controller of operations. "The idea of sending a man to the operator has some hidden benefits which are proving quite popular with our members. There is a psychological advan tage in having an FTA man on the spot, sitting down and analysing the charts. It establishes a direct contact between the operator and the FTA — it's a more personal type of service."
Freightcheck was set up last autumn and now has more than 450 FTA members on its books with a total of 5,000 drivers. David Green is hoping that this figure will be doubled by the end of the year.
Operating the service at the moment are 14 of the FTA vehicle inspectors. These men are already on the road visiting operators all over the country and so the logistics problem of providing a tachograph analysis service on the operators' premises was already solved. These 14 vehicle inspectors (who still carry out vehicle inspections in addition to their Freightcheck work) are supplemented by a further five specially recruited full-time Freightcheck inspectors. Between them they cover England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight.
Each inspector carries a Veeder Root ACE 2 chart analyser, a compact desk top unit with an integral printer and a digital readout display. When he arrives at the operator's premises all he needs is a table and chair, a power socket and a little peace and quiet.
The Freightcheck service is not available on a one-off basis, or to non-FTA members. The operator signs a one-year contract and will then receive visits from the Freightcheck inspector at regular intervals. The frequency of these visits is recommended by the FTA to be no less than one visit every three months and 99 per cent of the Freightcheck members have opted for this level.
In the case of larger fleets this will entail more than four visits per year because every driver's charts cannot be checked each time. For instance, a fleet with 112 drivers will necessitate four visits per year, 13-24 will mean eight visits and 25-36 will mean 12 visits per year.
At each visit the Freightcheck inspector will analyse a fortnight's charts for each driver. This means that in a threemonth period two weeks' charts are read — one-sixth of the total. Is this an adequate percentage?
David Green believes that it is: "The law doesn't demand that every single chart is analysed. The employer's main responsibility is to make sure that the charts are kept and stored so that they can be produced for the traffic examiner. If an operator doesn't use Freightcheck what proportion of his charts will he check thoroughly every day? We think a proper, detailed check of onesixth of the charts is enough to satisfy the law and spot any driving hours infringements."
The Freightcheck inspector will choose the fortnight's charts for each driver at random or alternatively will inspect any particular fortnight the operator wishes. Whichever is chosen the fortnight's charts must be consecutive days to check that the maximum fortnightly driving limit of 92 hours is not exceeded.
The Veeder Root analysers will accept all types of tachograph chart and work in the usual way with the Freightcheck inspector pressing a button to rotate the chart, switching modes as the tachograph trace changes. The skill of the machine's operator is therefore important for the accuracy of the analysis. He will also need to know whether the veh!cles are engaged on national or international work and whether they are artics or rigids so that he can apply the right set of driving hour regulations.
David Green pointed out that the analysis is designed to ensure compliance with the driving hours regulations; Freightcheck does not do detailed checks for such things as accident analysis and nor is driving style analysed by studying the speed trace. The analyser produces a print-out showing total duty spread over, driving time, other work, rest periods, total duty time, longest continuous driving period, odometer reading and kilometres covered.
The print-outs for each driver fortnight are attached to a sum-nary form for the individual driver which highlights any Preaches of the hours regula:ions or misuse of the tachojraph — forgetting to change :he mode switch when starting pr stopping is still the most cornnon fault.
Finally, the Freightcheck inspector fills out a further form which assesses the whole visit and will contain very general comments such as "satisfactory" or "charts missing".
This last aspect is important because the Fr.eightcheck inspector is analysing many operators' charts and so he gets to know the overall standard of driving hours observance. Armed with this experience and knowledge he can make objective and unbiased assessments. In this way he is very much like the Department of Transport's traffic examiners and can spot deficiencies in the same way but before the traffic examiner does.
FTA vehicle inspector Peter Northover is one of the 14 who have also taken on the Freightcheck duties. He looks after the London and South-east region and demonstrated the system for me. "It's definitely an advantage for me to go to the operators and do the analysis on their premises. They like to see someone from the FTA and very often the traffic manager will watch over my shoulder. Some of them take the opportunity to ask me about all sorts of other things as well."
On their first visit to an operator Peter and the other Freightcheck inspectors are often asked about the best way of storing the tachograph charts and many change from hanging them on six-inch nails to rather more elaborate suspension files or racking systems. The FTA sells these and the charts, just as it used to supply the log books, but the Freightcheck inspectors do not act as travelling salesmen.
One of the most common problems with tachograph charts is keeping track of the things. The law requires the driver to be able to produce that day's chart plus the previous two days' charts (or previous seven days' if on international work). The charts must subsequently be handed in to the traffic office within 21 days. Sending them away for bureau analysis further complicates matters and so at any time charts can be with the driver, or in the traffic office, or with the bureau service or somewhere in the post.
All this must add to the chances of mislaying a chart and here Freightcheck scores, since the charts never leave the operator's vehicles or premises.
So far, the FTA members who have signed up with Freightcheck are a complete cross-section of the membership, ranging from very small operators to the largest manufacturing companies.
To date none of them has been summonsed for driving hours offences since using Freightcheck. But knowing the good reputation that the FTA vehicle inspectors have in the eyes of the Department of Transport's own vehicle examiners it is feasible to believe that the use of Freightcheck may be a point in the operator's favour. For it is concrete proof that the operator has at least made a conscientious effort to check the tachograph charts. And it would be interesting to see if the courts agree that analysing one-sixth of the charts is an adequate proportion.to spot breaches of the driving hours regulations.
The $64,000 question is: "How much does it cost?" David Green said that Freightcheck is comparable to conventional tachograph bureau services although a couple of quotes I got showed the bureau services to be cheaper. Much depends on how many charts are sent for analysis.
The Freightcheck prices that are quoted are based on the recommended frequency of checking a fortnight's charts each three months, which works out at 40 charts per year (assuming a five-day working week) per driver. If you have 10 drivers the total cost of the year's analysis contract is £287. The price for 20 drivers is £574 and for 30 drivers it is £864. Vat must be added to these prices.