The Friday Afternoon Tachograph Gap
Karel runs a two-tractor operation out of Genk. On Friday 14 March his driver Wim returns from a run to Lyon and hands over the week's printouts. Karel notices that on Tuesday, between 13:10 and 14:25, the tachograph shows 'out of scope' rather than driving, yet Wim's fuel receipt from a service area near Dijon is timestamped 13:40 and the toll timestamp at the Lyon barrier is 14:20. Wim says he had switched the mode selector to 'out of scope' because he was stuck in a stationary queue after an accident and 'wasn't really working'. The vehicle is a 3,500 kg rigid with a digital tachograph. Karel must decide whether to accept the printout, and what to record in his own files. Wim has 41 hours of driving for the week and a 9h10 daily rest on Tuesday night.
1. Is Wim's use of the 'out of scope' mode defensible, and what should Karel conclude about Tuesday?
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No. Under Regulation (EC) 561/2006, a driver may only use the out-of-scope setting when the vehicle is being used in a situation genuinely outside the Regulation (for example a vehicle below the weight threshold, or a movement expressly exempted). Being stationary in a traffic queue is still other work or availability, and in any event the vehicle was on an international journey subject to the rules.
The timestamps contradict the record: a fuel receipt at 13:40 and a toll at 14:20 fall inside the 13:10–14:25 gap. Karel should therefore treat Tuesday's record as incomplete and unreliable. The correct reconstruction is that Wim was on duty throughout, and the period should be reclassified as other work (or availability if he was free to dispose of his time, which a queue does not permit).
Karel must not simply 'correct' the printout as if it were his own record: the printouts are the driver's records, and the operator annotates and files them. Karel should attach a written note explaining the discrepancy, retain the fuel receipt and toll ticket with the printouts, and raise it with Wim formally. If the gap conceals driving, the 41-hour weekly total may in fact be higher and must be recalculated.
2. Wim's Tuesday daily rest was 9h10. Does that create a separate problem, and how does Karel document it?
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A reduced daily rest of at least 9 hours is permitted, but only three times between two weekly rests. Karel must check the whole week and the preceding week, not just Tuesday, because the allowance is counted across the two-week reference period.
If Tuesday was the first, second or third reduction, it is lawful and Karel records it as a reduced rest. If it was the fourth, the rest is a serious infringement and the 9h10 cannot be validated. Karel should also check the compensation logic: a reduced rest must be compensated by an equivalent period taken en bloc before the end of the following week.
Documentation: Karel keeps the printouts, his annotated note, a two-week rest tally per driver, and the compensation record. Because the Tuesday record is already disputed, Karel should treat the 9h10 with caution - if the gap is reclassified as work, the rest calculation itself may shift and must be redone from the raw timestamps rather than accepted from the printout.