The digital tacho records all movements of the vehicle regardless of whether the vehicle is in or out of scope. How would teh stupoid thing know if there was a trailer on teh towball?? The nonsense about needing a tacho just because you have a towball fitted is just that. Nonsense. The regulations clearly state that vehicles or vehicle combinations with a gross permitted mass, note not actual mass, require teh use of tachos. If teh tow vehicle complete with towball weighs less than 3500 kg you are exempt, if teh trailer plus vehicle GPM is less than 3500 kg you are exempt. However in practice this means that you can only tow a little hobby trailer of about 750 kg GPM with the average 4×4 before the GPM exceeds 3500 Kg and so requires a tacho.

However all this applies only to vehicles being used commercially so towing your mates car home on your Ifor Williams flatbed, a non commercial activity needs no tacho provided there is no hoire or reward involved.

Use up all your tacho hours allowance during teh week , come home and couple up your 26 foot caravan and off you go and can drive for as long as you like without tacho. Crazy or what???

I have had a long and difficult correspondence with the VOSA policy advisor, traffic enforcement, One Susan Traynor and it is clear that VOSA have not prosecuted enough of the borderline cases where vehicles only fall into the scope of the regs when towing to clarify the very poorly drafted regulations.

I now keep a complete working diary showing when I am using the digital card in the tacho, when I am driving under the horticultural exemption, when I am on site but not driving, when I am at base in the workshop and when I am at base in the office.

This sort of detail is required even if you drive under tacho rules for just a few minutes per week as the regs require that you account for your non-resting time between each weekly rest period. There is also a need to prove compliance with the transport working time directive requiremenst for an average 48 hour week over any 17 week period.

There is an amazing amount of intrusiveness involved, I work at home on Health and safety stuff on my copmputer. Technically this shopuld be recorded as other duties even if I do it at 10 at night rather than waste time on facebook and the like which are “rest activities”. How the hell this could ever be proved for the purposes of prosecution against me I do not know but Susan Traynor was very insistent that I must comply.

I caould run on for ages but enough is enough.
Regards DG