Tachograph Records Drivers Must Carry and Keep
Your roadside duty vs the company’s archive
Operators must download and store tachograph data on their schedules. That does not remove the driver’s duty to present required records at a check. This article is about what drivers must be able to carry / produce — not the full company archiving calendar.
Driver card first
Your valid driver card is the primary record of your activities. Keep it with you when driving. Do not leave it in a vehicle you are not using if that means you cannot produce it at a stop.
Recent activity on the card
Enforcement expects to see a coherent recent history from the card. In international / assimilated contexts, drivers are commonly expected to be able to show activity covering the required previous period (often discussed as the current day plus the previous 56 days of relevant records under the applicable carrying rules). If your work mixes printouts and card data, know which days still need paper/print support.
When printouts matter
- Card fault or unit issues
- Manual notes for exceptional events
- Situations where the officer asks for a print of the vehicle unit or driver activities
Know how to print from the units you actually drive. A perfect archive in the traffic office does not help if you cannot produce a print at the hard shoulder.
What “I don’t have it” usually means
- Card left at home / in another truck
- Wrong card
- Assuming company software replaces what you must show personally
Driver habit
Start-of-duty check: card in wallet/slot, not in last week’s trailer; you know how to print on today’s truck; any exceptional yesterday was closed with a manual entry you can explain.
