The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has recently called for tougher action to be taken against truck drivers who falsify their driving records.  Drivers’ hours infringements and tachograph offences are the two most reported offences by VOSA and are on the increase.  This may be due to the current economic climate and the fact that lack of strict enforcement may tempt some operators to break the law. The RHA would like mandatory prison sentences to deter those who are tempted to deliberately cheat – backed by a strong commitment to detect and prosecute offenders through the courts. RHA chief executive Geoff Dunning  says “Falsifying driving records is planned in advance and is one of the most serious offences in road haulage” “They are putting lives at risk and they are undermining the livelihoods of drivers who comply with the law.” The RHA is lobbying the government to provide direction and adequate resources for VOSA to do an effective job of enforcement with support from the police. Attempting to deliberately falsify tachograph records in order to mask drivers’ hours infringements is extremely serious and exceeding drivers’ hours through ignorance is inexcusable. The law requires that digital tachograph driver card data is downloaded at least every 28 days and vehicle unit data every 56 days and compliance management solutions such as Smartanalysis make it easy to see exactly where all your drivers stand with respect to drivers’ hours legislation.