Tachograph & DVSA
The DVSA letter shouldn't ruin the week
Downloads on time, infringements dealt with, records that stand up. Audit-ready without the admin.
The rules are blunt: driver cards downloaded every 14 days, vehicle units every 42, infringements identified and dealt with, records kept and producible. Miss them and it's not abstract — a roadside stop can cost £1,500 per vehicle in fines, every miss feeds your OCRS score, and a bad OCRS puts your O-licence in front of the traffic commissioner.
The fix isn't a bigger folder in the portacabin. Downloads happen automatically over the air, analysis lands within 7 days, and every infringement arrives with the letter to sign the driver off — so when DVSA asks, you print, not panic.
How it runs
Downloads that chase themselves
Remote card and VU downloads on schedule — 14 and 42 days, no cable, no "the truck's in Aberdeen". Missed one? It flags itself before it becomes a gap in the record. Analysis within 7 days, infringement letters generated, driver debrief trail kept.
WTD hours sit alongside, so the planner sees who's out of time before the run is booked, not after.
What it costs per vehicle
Asked every week
Do downloads really happen without cables?
Yes — over the air from the vehicle unit and the driver card, on the 14/42-day schedule, wherever the truck is. The cable stays in the drawer.
What happens when an infringement shows up?
It lands analysed with the letter ready for the driver debrief. You sign it off, the trail is kept — which is exactly what DVSA wants to see: not zero infringements, but infringements dealt with.
Will this improve our OCRS?
Clean, on-time downloads and a documented debrief trail remove the most common OCRS wreckers. The score follows the discipline; the platform makes the discipline automatic.
We run a mix of analogue and digital. Problem?
Digital and smart tachos download remotely. For the odd analogue unit still on the fleet we set the manual process up properly so the record stays whole.
Who checks it's all actually happening?
The dashboard shows every vehicle's download status at a glance — green, due, overdue. And if something's stuck, you ring and a person picks up.
Related: Vehicle tracking · For haulage & logistics · DVSA scorecard
Fifteen minutes, no slides.
Tell us what's eating the week and we'll tell you straight if we can help.