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 
Tacho smart cards to cost drivers 120
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Truck drivers will be ordered to pay £20 a time for digital tachograph 'smart cards' when they are issued next year. Once the cards are available drivers will not be allowed to get behind the wheel of a truck equipped with a digital tachograph without one.
Drivers will have to apply to the DVLA to obtain their cards, and it will be their responsibility to look after them. If a driver loses his card he will have just 15 days to report it to the authorities and buy a new one.
In addition, the DVLA will only tolerate a certain number of lost cards before it informs the Vehicle Inspectorate which will then investigate the driver concerned.
Joan Williams from the Freight Transport Association says that the introduc tion of this new technology will cause a number of prob
lems: "As an operator you will have to specify to your dri ver agency that you only want drivers with their own cards,
otherwise they can't use that vehicle.
"Drivers will also have a responsibility to understand the new technology. The tachographs will have over 84 possible combinations of pictograms. If they have not been used to working with computers then they are going to have to learn very quickly how to."
To add to the potential problems, many companies' fleet replacement programmes are spread over a period of three or more years, so a mixture of analogue and digital tachographs will be used. A spokesman for Securioor Omega Logistics adds: 'People are going to break the law because they are totally unaware of how they are going to run the two systems together."