DVLA slammed for bad handling of faulty cards
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Derren Hayes
OPERATORS HAVE criticised the DVLA for its handling of 175,000 drivers’ faulty digital tachograph cards.
The situation, which came to light last week, suddenly saw thousands of digicards cease to function, leaving operators fuming.
Turners (Soham) has had about 50 drivers whose cards have been affected. John Burbridge, group quality and compliance manager, says he irst became aware of the problem on 26 March but couldn’t get through to the DVLA until the following day.
“I was then told that each driver would have to report a malfunctioning card individually and that they’d need to ring to get a reference number,” he says.
Since then, his drivers have struggled. “There’s still about 10 that haven’t been able to get through [to the DVLA].
“If they can’t get reference numbers then they will have to pay to get their cards replaced,” adds Burbridge.
Roy Rutter, a driver trainer at PCL Transport, says 14 drivers have registered their cards as faulty “and new ones are coming forward daily”.
However, Rutter believes com munication from the DVLA should have been better.
While the DVLA initially told operators that they would be able to drive for a maximum of 15 days while waiting to receive their new digital cards, it changed its guidance on 30 March after it became clear the scale of failures would make this unworkable.
A DVLA spokesman admits: “We haven’t got the capacity to issue 175,000 cards in one go, so this is not going to be sorted out in 15 days.” DVLA is asking that faulty cards are returned to it with a completed D777B application form [available on the agency’s website] to receive a replacement. However, drivers must submit the application within seven days of the malfunction occurring to receive a new card for free.
Although drivers with a reference number will be exempt from VOSA prosecution while they wait for their digital replacements, they must use manual cards in the meantime.
The situation is likely to hit operators’ wallets too, due to the need to allocate additional resources to analyse manual cards until digital replacements come through.
“This is going to be a signiicant extra cost,” says Burbridge.
FAULTY DIGITAL CARDS
The DVLA says the faulty cards, which when inserted display a series of error codes on the unit, were issued between 24 March 2007 and 31 August 2008.
A DVLA spokesman says: “We don’t know what the cause is yet, but we believe it is something to do with the security chip in the card.” For more information, go to www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/