Turner said, "If this delay is achieved, it will allow time for each sector of the digital tachograph mix to organise their arrangements in a far more realistic and practical fashion than we are presently faced with. The FTA has been working hard in Brussels with both the Parliament and the Commission and now feels that they should be congratulated on taking this new line which clearly recognises the problems and amends legislation to deal with them. Due to the legal process, we are not yet home and dry. However, this news is a big step in the right direction."

On 15th March, the European Parliament Transport Committee voted to postpone the compulsory fitting of new lorries with the digital tachograph by 5 August 2005. The Committee voted to put back the key deadline by a year, which would mean that all vehicles manufactured after August 2006 would need to be fitted with a digital tachograph. After 5th August 2007 all vehicles put into service for the first time must be retrofitted with digital tachographs.

The Transport Committee must now win approval for these amendments from the whole of Parliament at a plenary session to be held between 11th and 14th April and the European Council of Transport Ministers needs to come to a similar decision in June. However, the earliest these changes can reach the EU statute book is November, leaving three months during which technically new vehicles need to be fitted with non-existent digital tachographs.

Two weeks ago the FTA wrote to Transport Minister David Jamieson asking for a statement to sort out this legal uncertainty for operators.

There are currently just two digital tachographs that have been given type approval for use, with the most recent being Siemens VDO, who were given the go-ahead last October.