Nov/Dec 2005

The 1 June 2006 is looking increasingly likely to be the date when digital tachographs have to be fitted in new goods vehicles supplied in the UK.

However, even after all the delays, wrangling and debate, the date is not set in tablets of stone, since the strange workings of EU bureaucracy mean that the ultimate date depends upon the date when the regulation is published Official Journal of the European Union.

According to Allan McKenzie, senior technical manager at Britain's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders: "The start point could be any time from early April to July - and there will be only twenty days' warning." He adds: "Once the decision is law, you won't be able to use a new truck with an old style analogue tachograph."

The UK's Freight Transport Association has complained to the Government that this uncertainty is disruptive to industry, which in any case could not meet an earlier date. It therefore want the UK to settle on 1 June for implementation, regardless of what the rest of the EU decides to do.

 

According to FTA deputy chief executive James Hookham: "Neither the industry nor the Government should under-estimate the task in hand in adapting from analogue to digital tachographs."

He adds: "It will be a major enterprise to train half a million drivers, plus large numbers of managers and back-office staff, in both the operation of the units and the required record keeping." He says continuing uncertainty "is crazy."

UK operators can already elect to fit digital tachographs voluntarily if they choose.