Tachograph Calibration
Vehicles fitted with Tachograph Units whether Analogue or Digital Units should have these units calibrated, tested and the seals checked periodically. As each vehicle is presented for its Preventative Maintenance Inspection (PMI), part of the inspection process will be to check that the seal is intact and the last tachograph inspection date is entered on the PMI sheet.
Unlike analogue tachographs, where the tachograph head is checked every two years and re-calibrated every six years, digital tachographs must be fully re-calibrated:
Who can fit, seal and Calibrate Tachographs?
All tachographs used for recording driver’s hours, whether analogue or digital, must be properly installed, calibrated and sealed. This task must be performed by either a vehicle manufacturer or an Approved Tachograph Centre, which are usually found at a truck main dealer.
Tachograph systems must be inspected when first installed, and at least every 2 years thereafter to ensure that they fully meet the installation and calibration requirements set out in European legislation, in order to accurately record driving time and other activities within the tolerances laid down by that legislation.
Once checked and properly calibrated, tachographs must be sealed and an installation or inspection plaque fixed to the O/S (driver’s side) door shut.
Operators must ensure that these tachograph requirements are complied with before putting a new or used vehicle into service.
Tachograph systems must be inspected when first installed, and at least every 2 years thereafter to ensure that they fully meet the installation and calibration requirements set out in European legislation. This is in order to accurately record driving time, and other activities within the tolerances laid down by that legislation.
Once checked and properly calibrated, tachographs must be sealed and an installation or inspection plaque fixed to the O/S (driver’s side) door shut – see image below.
Operators must ensure that these tachograph requirements are complied with before putting a new or used vehicle into service.
Are Tachograph Seals checked by DVSA?
Yes, a check on the presence of a tachograph, calibration and the integrity of seals is part of the statutory annual test for vehicles requiring a tachograph. Roadside checks are also conducted by DVSA and the police.
Analogue Tachographs
These must be inspected at an Approved Tachograph Centre every 2 years to ensure that the system is operating correctly. The two-yearly inspection can be calculated by checking the date shown on the installation plaque. Additionally, a full inspection of the recording equipment is required 6 years after the date of original installation, and every 6 years after that. A 6-yearly inspection requires a full calibration of the recording equipment and replacement of the installation plaque.
An installation plaque will also be issued where a repair to a vehicle is made that involves recalibration and re-sealing – in such cases, the above periods apply from that date.
Digital Tachographs
Digital VU’s must be fully inspected at an Approved Tachograph Centre at least every 2 years or:
What Should I do if the Tachograph is not used much?
When a tachograph is not used very often, you should make sure, before the vehicle is again used in the scope of EC drivers hours rules, that the tachograph:
A tachograph fitted to a vehicle that is never used under the EC rules must, if it is acting as the sole speedometer on the vehicle, still have an installation inspection, be issued with an installation plaque and be properly sealed. Provided the seals remain intact, and the vehicle is not subsequently used for an operation falling within the scope of the EC rules, it is not necessary to have the tachograph inspected or re-calibrated again.
Faulty Tachographs or Broken Seals
If the tachograph becomes defective, seals are broken or there is any doubt about the recording equipment’s ability to make accurate recordings, the tachograph should be inspected, calibrated and, where necessary, repaired by an Approved Tachograph Centre as soon as possible. If the vehicle cannot return to its base within a week of failure of the tachograph, or of the discovery of its defective operation, the repair must be carried out en- route.
Approved Tachograph Centres in the UK may only undertake minor repairs to analogue tachographs and so offer a service-exchange scheme to provide repaired and replacement analogue tachographs. The exchange of analogue tachographs is sourced either from the tachograph’s manufacturers or through the Authorised Repair Scheme approved by the Department for Transport.
With respect to recording driver activities when the recording equipment is unserviceable or malfunctioning, drivers may continue to use the vehicle but must ensure that they make a temporary record that contains data enabling the driver to be identified (driver’s card number and/or name and/or driving licence number) including the driver’s signature, all information for the various periods of time which can no longer be recorded or printed out correctly by the recording equipment.
Whilst this is the position under the EC rules, it is not advisable to start or continue an international journey with a defective tachograph (even if manual records are kept). This is because many countries will not permit entry to such vehicles since their own domestic laws require a proven working system.
UK legislation also provides that a person will not be liable to be convicted if they can prove to the Court that the vehicle was on its way to a place where the recording equipment could be repaired or that it was not immediately practicable for the equipment to be repaired and the driver was keeping a manual record or, where a seal is broken, the breaking of the seal was unavoidable and could not be immediately repaired and all other aspects of the EC rules were being complied with
Find your local Approved Tachograph Centre (ATC) – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
