Missing Mileage

As consultants out with clients and trainers in the classrooms, there is a common theme which regularly rears its ugly head and the authorities appear to be more and more interested in – missing mileage / kilometres.

The majority of tachograph analysis platforms have the function to generate missing mileage reports and some have the function to add comments including attachments to detail a company’s investigation.

What we are seeing is operators not paying enough attention, not downloading their vehicles often enough and not downloading the drivers’ cards while any potential infringements are fresh in the drivers’ heads.

We are all aware of the Guide To Maintaining Roadworthiness, but few are aware of the Statutory Documents that the senior Traffic Commissioner (TC) has produced, specifically the Statutory Document Three or Stat Doc 3. It details the what the TC recognises as routing administrative tasks for a Transport Manager.

Every time a vehicle is used it is essential that a drivers tachograph card is inserted. Now, we all know that drivers will misplace their card, it could be stolen or malfunctioning, this is ok so long as the DVLA has been informed within 7 days and printouts have been generated at the start and end of each shift. What is not ok is a driver who has left their card at home or has simply forgotten to put it in the Vehicle Unit.

We frequently find evidence of vehicles being used by an operator where there is no driver record. This may be entirely innocent if, for instance, the vehicle is undergoing maintenance or the use is out-of-scope of EU drivers’ hours rules. However, it sometimes reveals a failing by operators who have not cross-checked drivers’ records against other information sources, i.e. the tracking platform, job sheets, diaries and vehicle maintenance files.

Tachograph analysis platforms all have their individual strengths and weaknesses, it is imperative that operators allocate sufficient time to run the reports and carry out detailed investigations into all missing data. DVSA will check for this and several other black spots when they request your raw data, to have all the answers ready for them will be the difference between being compliant and non-compliant, but, not just answers, evidence of investigations and comments on the system.

Ridgeway Training has, in our opinion, the best analysis portal currently available to operators with vehicle downloads free and daily charge rates for drivers data as low as 22 pence per day. Reports can be auto generated at a date and time to suit your operation and align specifically to when you download both your drivers cards and vehicle units.

For more information on our Tachograph Analysis Software, click here to drop us an email or call 01293 535850.