Lost, Stolen or Damaged Tacho Card: What the Driver and the Operator Must Do

A driver card is a small piece of plastic that carries the only legal record of a driver's last 28 days. When it goes missing, the law is unusually practical: it lets the driver carry on, provided the record carries on too. The trouble starts when a driver keeps driving, keeps no record, and hopes the replacement arrives before anyone asks. This guide is the procedure for driver and operator, in the order it has to happen.

The three situations, and one that is not

• Lost or stolen: the card is gone. The procedure below applies in full.
• Damaged or malfunctioning: the card exists but the unit will not read it, or reads it intermittently. Same procedure, with the extra step of sending the card back.
• Expired: not a lost card. An expired card cannot be used and the 15-day allowance does not apply. Renewal has to be applied for at least 15 working days before expiry; see how to renew a tacho card. A driver whose card has expired without a renewal in progress cannot drive in scope until the new one arrives.

Step 1: report it, the same day

If the card was stolen, report the theft to the police and keep the crime reference number; it is the evidence that the card was not simply handed to someone else. Then notify the DVLA, which is done as part of the replacement application. If the card is lost, damaged or faulty, the DVLA application is the report. Tell the transport office immediately in every case, because from this moment the operator's records for that driver depend on printouts, and the office needs to know to collect them.

Two things a driver must not do: borrow a colleague's card, which is a criminal offence for both of them, and drive with a damaged card that the unit reads on some days and not others. A card that has failed once is a card that has failed.

Step 2: apply for the replacement within seven days

The application must be made within seven calendar days of the loss, theft or failure. Online through the GOV.UK tachograph card service is quickest; form DTA1 by post is the alternative. The fee is £19. The replacement carries the same expiry date as the original, so a card with six months left is replaced with a card with six months left; if that is the case, consider whether a renewal application makes more sense. Damaged or faulty cards must be returned to the DVLA with the application, which is also how a manufacturing fault is refunded.

Apply on the day. The seven-day limit is a maximum, and the fifteen-day driving allowance is measured from the loss, not from the application.

Step 3: keep driving legally with printouts

A driver without a card may continue to drive in scope for up to 15 calendar days, or for longer only where that is necessary to return the vehicle to the operator's premises. The condition is that the record is kept another way:

1. At the start of the day, before driving, take a printout from the vehicle unit of the vehicle's daily record. Write on it your name, your driving licence number or driver card number, and sign it.
2. During the day, note by hand on the printout the times of breaks, other work and availability, in the same detail the card would have held. If you change vehicle, take an end printout from the first and a start printout from the second.
3. At the end of the day, take a second printout, complete the details and sign it.
4. Keep every printout with you for the 28 days the card would have covered, and hand copies to the operator so they can be kept for the retention period.

The unit is recording driving without a card as an event throughout. That is expected and not a problem when the printouts explain it; it is a serious problem when they do not.

What the operator must do

• Record the incident in the driver's file: date, what happened, crime reference if any, date the application was made, date the replacement arrived.
• Collect the printouts and store them with the driver's card data for the full retention period; see how long to keep tachograph records.
• Download the vehicle units the driver used, on schedule or sooner. The vehicle data for those days exists only in the units, and the analysis will show driving-without-card events that the printouts need to explain.
• Analyse the printouts against the hours rules as if they were card data. Infringements committed while driving on printouts are still infringements.
• When the new card arrives, download it at the first opportunity and check the analysis for the gap. If the old card was lost, the last downloaded copy of it is now the only record of those days; make sure it exists.

A faulty card or a faulty unit?

Sometimes the card is fine and the vehicle unit is not. A unit that rejects every card, shows a card fault against a card other units accept, or logs a sensor fault has failed, and the rules give the operator seven days to have it repaired by an approved centre, during which the driver keeps manual records on printouts or record sheets. Before sending a card back to the DVLA, try it in another vehicle; before booking a unit into a workshop, try another card in it. Our calibration guide covers what the approved centre does when the unit goes in.

The mistakes that turn a lost card into an offence

• Driving past 15 days without a card, other than to return to base. There is no extension because the DVLA is slow.
• No printouts, or unsigned printouts. Driving without a card is then simply driving without a record.
• Using someone else's card. A false record and a criminal offence, and one of the few tachograph matters that ends in court rather than a fixed penalty.
• Not returning a damaged card. The replacement can be delayed, and a card that is later found being used alongside its replacement raises the question of two cards, which is prohibited.
• Applying late. The seven-day limit is itself a requirement, and a late application followed by a roadside stop is two problems, not one.

Reducing how often it happens

Cards get lost in cab pockets, washing machines and glove boxes; they get damaged by being left in units in hot cabs and by being used as ice scrapers. A wallet-style holder, a rule that the card comes out of the unit at the end of the shift and goes in the wallet, and a note in the induction that the card is a legal document rather than a key fob, cut losses noticeably. Expiry is the one nobody can prevent, which is why renewal dates belong on the compliance dashboard rather than in a driver's memory.

Operators using remote tachograph downloads have one less thing to worry about here: the vehicle unit data for the missing days is already in the office, and the driver's last card download is already on file.

Frequently asked questions

How long can I drive without a tacho card?

Up to 15 calendar days after the card is lost, stolen or fails, or longer only where necessary to return the vehicle to base, and only with a signed printout at the start and end of each day. You must apply for a replacement within seven days.

What does a replacement tacho card cost?

£19 from the DVLA, applied for online or on form DTA1. The replacement keeps the expiry date of the original.

Can I use a co-driver's card while mine is replaced?

No. A driver may only ever use a card issued in their own name. Using another person's card is a falsification offence for both drivers.

What if my card is stolen abroad?

Report the theft to the local police and keep the report, apply to the DVLA as normal, and drive on printouts under the same 15-day rule. The rule is the same across Europe, and enforcement officers in other countries will expect the same printouts.

Do I need to keep the printouts?

Yes. Carry them for 28 days as you would the card data, and hand copies to your employer, who keeps them with your records for the same period as the card downloads.