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What drivers and operators must do when a tachograph card is lost, stolen, damaged or faulty, or the tachograph unit fails: deadlines, printouts and records.
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The right response depends on what has actually failed. This guide covers in-scope HGV and PSV operations using analogue, digital or smart tachographs under assimilated drivers' hours rules or AETR rules, and deals with four situations:
It does not cover ordinary manual entries for other work, daily rest or holidays where the tachograph is working normally. For those, see Manual entries: when and how drivers must make them.
A quick diagnostic first: if a card fails in one vehicle but works in another, the problem is probably the vehicle unit, not the card. Checking that before you return a card or book a workshop can save you replacing the wrong thing.
The rules below come from Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, which still applies in Great Britain as assimilated (retained) law, backed up by current DVSA guidance. Treat a missing or unusable card as an incident, not a normal manual-entry day. Both the driver and the operator need a clear audit trail.
GB driver cards are issued by DVLA, so DVLA is who you report to. As soon as you realise the card is lost, stolen, damaged or not working properly, report it by phone or online. Tell the transport office at the same time, before the vehicle moves.
You must apply for a replacement within 7 calendar days of the card being lost, stolen, damaged or malfunctioning. Apply through Apply for a driver digital tachograph card (GOV.UK), online or by post; a damaged or faulty card can only be replaced by post. A replacement fee applies.
The new card is sent to the address on your driving licence, so check that address is correct before you apply.
You may continue to drive without your card for a maximum of 15 calendar days, or longer only where that is necessary to get the vehicle back to its operating centre, provided you can prove you could not produce or use the card.
This concession only applies if you previously held a valid card that is now lost, stolen, damaged or malfunctioning. It does not cover a card that has expired (you must renew before the expiry date), and it does not cover a card you have simply left at home.
While you are driving without the card, record your time using printouts from the vehicle unit. Take a printout at the start and the end of each driving day. If you change vehicles during the day, take one at the start and end of each vehicle's use.
Treat each printout as a legal tachograph record. It must be legible and complete enough to identify you and account for the whole duty period. On each one, by hand:
Keep these printouts and carry them (you must be able to produce them at the roadside) and hand them to your operator for filing and analysis like any other record.
This is the point that catches drivers and planners out. The 15-day allowance is for cards that are lost, stolen, damaged or faulty, not for a card left at home, in another cab, in yesterday's unit or in your work bag. DVSA guidance is clear that manual records are not permitted where the card has simply been forgotten.
In plain terms: if the card is retrievable, go and get it before you take an in-scope vehicle out. Driving on printouts because fetching a perfectly good card was inconvenient is an offence, and the vehicle unit will record "driving without a card", which shows up clearly on analysis and at the roadside.
If your lost card turns up after you have applied for a replacement, do not use it or keep it as a spare. Return it to DVLA with a short covering letter. Once a replacement has been ordered the old card is cancelled, a driver may only hold one driver card, and trying to use it can cause problems at a roadside check.
Do not leave the driver to improvise. A simple incident record, kept with the tachograph records and download evidence, is usually enough. Make sure you:
A company card is not the driver's recording card. It is the operator's electronic key for accessing and protecting vehicle-unit data. Losing it does not invalidate any driver's card, but it becomes a compliance problem fast if it stops you downloading.
You can apply online for a replacement company digital tachograph card, including for lost, stolen, damaged or faulty cards, through Apply for a company digital tachograph card (GOV.UK). A malfunctioning company card should be returned to DVLA.
A tachograph failure is different from a card problem. The card may be perfectly valid, but the vehicle unit, motion sensor, printer, seals or recording function may be faulty. The duties here fall mainly on the operator.
If the tachograph breaks down or stops recording correctly, the operator must have it repaired by a DVSA-approved tachograph centre as soon as circumstances permit. Only approved centres can work on, calibrate and seal tachographs. A general garage cannot.
Record the fault as a vehicle defect on the driver's walkaround check report and follow your usual defect-management procedure. Note when it was discovered, when a manager assessed it, when the centre was booked and when it was fixed. That trail answers the obvious enforcement question: why is this vehicle running with a defective unit?
If the vehicle cannot get back to your operating centre within one week of the breakdown, or of the day you discovered the fault, the repair must be carried out en route rather than waiting to bring the vehicle home.
That one-week wording is often misread. It is not permission to run a defective tachograph for a week because booking a workshop is inconvenient. It is a backstop for a vehicle that genuinely cannot get back to base. The underlying duty is still to repair as soon as circumstances permit.
While the tachograph is unserviceable or not recording correctly, the driver must make a manual record of every period the unit can no longer capture, together with their name, card or driving-licence number and signature.
Record the relevant driving, other work, availability, breaks and rest that the tachograph has not recorded, then sign it. Diaries, ordinary timesheets and informal notes are not a substitute for the permitted record methods: a tachograph chart, the driver card, or a printout. They can help the office understand what happened, but they do not replace the legal record.
You need to show the vehicle was controlled, repaired and recorded properly, with the evidence kept in one place. Work through:
Digital and smart tachographs must be recalibrated at least every two years, and after a repair to the tachograph (and on certain other triggers, such as a change to the vehicle's characteristics or time drift of more than 20 minutes). Analogue tachographs must be inspected every two years and recalibrated every six years. A fault repair resets the periodic cycle, and driving with a known, unremedied tachograph fault risks a roadside prohibition. A fault is something to act on, not park. The wider calibration rules are in How Tachographs Work: The Operator's Technical Guide.
A defect that might be manageable on a controlled return to base in Great Britain can become a serious roadside problem abroad. DVSA guidance warns that, even though manual records may be recognised under the rules, many countries will not let a vehicle with a defective tachograph enter, because their domestic law requires a fully functioning system.
For an international journey, the safer call is almost always to repair before departure, or to recover the vehicle for repair, rather than dispatch it and hope the explanation is accepted at a foreign roadside. Note too that a faulty unit replaced for international work must be replaced with a smart tachograph 2.
A driver who needs to produce printouts must be able to. If the card is unavailable and the vehicle unit cannot print, you have a recording problem as well as a practical one. Operators must supply drivers with sufficient type-approved charts and print roll, so the driver can produce a printout when an enforcement officer asks.
If the printer itself is defective, treat it as a tachograph fault: make the permitted manual records, tell the office, and arrange repair as soon as circumstances permit. Running out of paper is not an excuse for missing records. It is a preventable fleet-control issue.
Drivers do not need a legal lecture at 5am. They need a clear instruction they can follow under pressure. Something like this works:
Keep enough evidence for an examiner, auditor or traffic commissioner to see what happened without relying on memory:
More generally, DVSA expects vehicle-unit data to be downloaded at least every 90 calendar days and driver-card data at least every 28 calendar days, with records kept for at least 12 months (and working time records for at least 24 months). See Tachograph Record-Keeping and Analysis: What Operators Must Do.
A tachograph fault does not automatically immobilise a vehicle, but the operator must make a sensible compliance and road-risk decision. Take it out of normal service, or do not dispatch it, where:
Where the vehicle is already on the road, control the return, make the manual records, and get the approved repair arranged. The audit trail matters as much as the repair.
Lost cards and failed tachographs are manageable if the driver records the day properly and the office closes the loop. The trouble starts when printouts are incomplete, downloads are missed, or nobody checks the manual records against the duty actually done.
That is where proper tachograph analysis earns its keep: not just storing files, but spotting the gaps, explaining the infringement and showing that the operator acted. That is the work Tacho Agent carries out for operators every day.
This article is provided for general guidance only and reflects our understanding of the rules as they apply in Great Britain as at the date shown on this page. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice tailored to your specific operation.
Drivers' hours, tachograph, working time and operator licensing rules are detailed and change over time, and some requirements differ in Northern Ireland and for international journeys. Always check the current guidance on GOV.UK and the underlying legislation on legislation.gov.uk, and consult your transport manager or a qualified compliance professional before acting.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tacho Agent Ltd accepts no liability for any loss arising from action taken, or not taken, in reliance on this article. Nothing here excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraud. Use of this article is also governed by our Terms of Use.
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