Digital tachographs became mandatory in new vehicles with a kerb weight greater than 3.5 tonnes from May 2006.  These electronic devices record drive, rest and break periods.  There is no requirement to retrofit them to vehicles manufactured before May 2006 and in most cases these vehicles can continue to use conventional analogue tachographs.

Digital tachographs store data in memory (vehicle data) and by recording to an official driver card (driver data) inserted into the digital tachograph unit during the period the vehicle is being driven. To obtain a driver card one must apply to the DVLA. Operators must periodically download data from the digital tachograph and from the drivers' card and analyse them to check that EU rules and regulations have been complied with.  Should a driver use both digital and analogue equipped vehicles then a continuous record of driver's activity must be assembled and made available for inspection for a period of up to 12 months.