OUT of Scope and Private Use on a Tachograph: When It Is Right and When It Is a False Record

Every digital tachograph has an OUT function, and every DVSA examiner has seen it used as a way of driving without the driving counting. The function exists for a good reason: vehicles do exempt work, drivers take trucks home, workshops test-drive after a repair, and none of that should sit in a driver's 90-hour fortnight. This guide is about the line between those uses and the ones that end in an interview under caution.

What OUT actually records

Selecting OUT does not stop the tachograph. The vehicle unit goes on recording distance, speed and time exactly as before, and the driver card records the period as out of scope with the card still inserted. What changes is the meaning: analysis software treats OUT periods as neither driving nor other work under the EU rules. An examiner can see every OUT period on a download, together with the distance covered and the times, and can compare it with anything else that shows where the vehicle was.

That last point is the whole story. OUT is a claim, made by the driver, that the rules did not apply for a while. The unit keeps the evidence to test the claim against.

When OUT is right

• Exempt operations. A journey covered by one of the exemptions in Article 3 or the national derogations: agriculture within 100 km, tools of the trade, breakdown recovery within 100 km, and the rest. The full list is in tachograph exemptions in the UK. Note that driving an exempt vehicle commercially for the employer still counts as other work on an in-scope day; OUT records it correctly, and the analysis treats it as work.
• Private, non-commercial use. A driver using the vehicle for a genuinely private journey, with the operator's knowledge.
• Road tests. A workshop driving the vehicle after repair or maintenance, or to diagnose a fault.
• Movements off the public road inside a site where the vehicle is not being used for the carriage of goods on the road.

When OUT is a false record

• Positioning runs: driving empty to a collection, back to the yard, or to a fuel station between jobs. Empty running in the course of commercial transport is in scope.
• "Just moving it" on the public road at a depot, a truck stop or a customer's site. If a public road is involved and the vehicle is in commercial use, it is driving.
• Taking the vehicle home at the end of a shift so as to start from home tomorrow. That journey is part of the work; it is driving under the EU rules, not private use.
• Any use of OUT that starts when the driving limit is close and ends when it would be convenient.

Examiners test an OUT period the obvious way: what else shows where the vehicle was? Delivery paperwork, ANPR, the customer's gate log, the operator's own tracking data. A two-hour OUT period on a Wednesday afternoon that coincides with three drops on the run sheet is not a road test. Fleets that run GPS tracking alongside the tachograph should assume that DVSA can and will ask for both.

Private use of a company truck or van

Private use is lawful where the operator permits it, and it is recorded as OUT. Some practical points:

• Keep the card in. Driving with no card is logged as an event, and an event on a Saturday with 80 km of distance looks like undeclared work. Card in, OUT selected, and the record explains itself.
• Select OUT before moving off and deselect it before the first in-scope movement. A private journey that runs straight into a delivery run needs the switch in the right place.
• Tell the office. The operator is responsible for the analysis, and an unexplained OUT period will be queried. A note in the driver file avoids a difficult conversation later.
• Vans under 3.5 tonnes are out of scope anyway for national work, so private use needs no recording unless a tachograph is fitted and used for a trailer combination or the 2026 international rules.
• The driving still tires the driver. OUT keeps private driving out of the EU limits, but a driver who spends the weekend on a 600-mile private trip and starts a shift on Monday morning has not had a weekly rest in any sense that matters to a fatigue investigation. The Working Time Regulations and the operator's duty of care do not switch off with the symbol.

Operators should say what is allowed in writing, in the same document as the vehicle tracking policy: who may use vehicles privately, how it is recorded, and how tracking data from private periods is handled. Insurance and benefit-in-kind tax are separate questions that the same document should at least point to.

Mixed days: exempt and in-scope work together

On any day with in-scope driving, the EU rules cover the whole day. Exempt driving done for the employer that day is recorded as OUT and counts as other work for the daily and weekly limits. Rest is still rest. The weekly rest requirement stands whatever mix of work the week held. Drivers should not try to manage this with the card in and out; the card stays in and the mode switch and OUT function tell the story. The manual entries and mode switch guide covers how to record the transitions.

How to select OUT, and how to check it later

On most units the OUT function is reached through the menu under "entries" or "vehicle": select OUT begin, and the display shows the OUT pictogram until OUT end is selected or the card is withdrawn. Some units end OUT automatically at card withdrawal; drivers should check rather than assume. On a printout, OUT periods appear with the OUT pictogram against the activity lines. On a download, the analysis lists them as a separate category, which is where the transport manager should look each week: every OUT period should have a reason that could be given to an examiner in one sentence.

The penalties

An OUT period that should have been driving is a false record. At the roadside that is a graduated fixed penalty at the top of the scale, £300, plus the drivers' hours infringements that the correct record would have shown, a probable prohibition and a mark on the operator's OCRS. Where DVSA considers the misuse deliberate, the matter is prosecuted under the Transport Act 1968 as falsification, which is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine and up to two years' imprisonment on indictment. A pattern across a fleet is a public inquiry matter for the operator licence. Our guide to tachograph infringements and penalties sets out the scale.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use OUT for driving to the depot?

Not if the vehicle is in scope. Driving to or from the depot, empty or loaded, is part of the work and is recorded as driving. OUT is for exempt operations and genuine private use.

Does OUT driving count towards my driving time?

Not under the EU rules, which is the point. Exempt driving done for the employer does count as other work on an in-scope day, and all driving counts for fatigue purposes under the operator's duty of care.

Does the tachograph record OUT driving?

Yes. The vehicle unit records the movement, time and distance in full; the driver card records the period as out of scope. An examiner sees both on a download.

Can I drive an HGV privately without a card?

You can, but the unit will log driving without a card as an event, and you will be asked about it. It is better to keep the card in and select OUT so the record is complete and the reason is visible.

What is the penalty for misusing OUT?

A false record: up to £300 fixed penalty per offence, the underlying drivers' hours infringements, a likely prohibition, and for deliberate falsification prosecution under the Transport Act 1968 with the possibility of imprisonment.