Digital Tachographs

On 5 August 2002, the EU adopted the digital tachograph legislation, which has triggered a timetable of events leading up to the mandatory fitting of digital tachographs to "In scope" vehicles as from 5 August 2004. Due to manufacturers not having suitable equipment type approved this date was delayed until 5 August 2005. Mandatory fitment has now commenced as from 1 May 2006. Currently three manufacturers have type approval and they are Siemens VDO, Stoneridge Electronics and Actia.

11 April 2006

EC Regulation No. 561/2006 was published today. The Regulation will make the introduction of Digital Tachographs mandatory in vehicles put into service for the first time from

1 May 2006

To request a Digital Card Application form please contact the DVLA on 0870 850 1074

The unit will no longer use the traditional waxed paper chart, but will instead record data onto a "credit card" type smart card. As the new units are introduced, there will be a period of overlap, with some drivers using both analogue and digital units during their working week.

Driver Card

The Driver Card is a smart card to be used every day when taking over a vehicle fitted with a digital tachograph and is valid for no more than five years. It stores drivers' activities and has an average memory capacity of 28 days.

All drivers who are subject to tachograph regulations can apply for, and hold, a Driver Card. An application form is available from DVLA who may be contacted on 0870 8501074.  Please see separate table for cost of cards. The Driver card is personal to the holder. No driver may hold more than one valid card.  
If the card is lost, stolen or becomes defective the driver must apply for a replacement card within 7 calendar days and DVLA must issue the replacement within five working days of receiving the application.  During the time the driver is without the card, he must print out data on his driving and rest times recorded in the Vehicle Unit at the end of the journey, add his personal details and sign the printouts. It will not be permissible to continue to drive, without a valid driver card, after fifteen calendar days. Enforcement authorities will have access to data detailing issued and cancelled cards and will be able to identify if a driver is using an invalid card.

On average the last 28 working days are stored on the driver card and the last 365 days are stored in the mass memory of the vehicle unit (VU). The mass memory operates a rolling system in which the latest data automatically overwrites the oldest stored data.
Earlier data is lost if it has not been downloaded or backed up on another data storage media. It will therefore be a requirement that regular downloads are undertaken. The data stored in the Vehicle Unit (VU) can be displayed on the tachograph screen, printed out by the Vehicle Unit (VU) or via a card reader using a printer connected to a computer and can be downloaded via the VU or via any other dedicated equipment.

From 1 May 2006 drivers must be able to produce:

Their record sheet for the current fixed week and those used by the driver in the previous 15 calendar days that were prior to the current fixed week.

Any manual record and printout made during the current fixed week and those used by the driver in the previous 15 calendar days that were prior to the current fixed week

Their driver card (if they hold one)

Company Card

• issued by DVLA
• valid for no more than five years
• allows for display, downloading and printing of the data stored in the vehicle unit
• company cards do not store data, they are a key which allows you to download data using an appropriate device
• the company card locks data in and out to prevent unauthorised access to the information

Workshop Card

• available only to authorised Digital Tachograph Licensed technicians.  It should be noted that these are "Tachograph Workshop" cards and are only for use when calibrating and or repairing the tachograph system. They are not for general workshop staff taking vehicles for road tests or MOT.

Control Card

• a card that will be issued to enforcement authorities i.e. VOSA and Police
• allows access to the data stored in the data memory or in the driver cards

Driver card. Application forms are available from DVLA on 0870 8501074. Be sure to ask for the APPLICATION form otherwise you might only get an information pack. Alternatively we have a small number of Driver and Company application forms available from our Service Centre reception.

YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE A VEHICLE WITH A DIGITAL TACHOGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DRIVER CARD. PROVISION IS MADE IN THE INSTANCE WHERE A DRIVER CARD IS LOST OR DAMAGED BUT IF YOU HAVE NOT APPLIED FOR AND RECEIVED YOUR CARD YOU MUST NOT  USE THE VEHICLE.

Digital tachographs will have the facility to store 1 years data in memory as follows:

• distance & time
• speed for the last 24 hours at a frequency of 1 second
• mode data
• driver manual entries
• faults and interruptions of power supply
• Driver card information

The Siemens VDO training packages focus on practical information for everyday work situations experienced by the particular target group. Each training package consists of a computer learning program and a booklet to provide help at a later date during routine work.  Click on either of the pictures to go to the DTCO website for full specification and details of the packages.

The  Download tool is a convenient  medium for downloading and archiving vehicle unit mass memory and driver card data. It features a 6-pin serial interface, which is compatible with all digital tachographs, and a USB 2.0 interface for transferring data quickly to a PC.

The time shown on a digital tachograph will be the local time but all recordings will be in UTC. UTC is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The left clock shows the current local time whilst the right clock shows GMT (UTC) .

UK Local Time                       UTC