Drivers & hours
What is missing mileage?
Missing mileage is a discrepancy where a vehicle has moved with no driver card inserted. It shows on the vehicle unit as distance travelled that no driver's record accounts for.
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<img src="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/missing-mileage/diagram.svg" alt="missing mileage — diagram from FleetOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/missing-mileage">What is missing mileage?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk">FleetOptix</a>
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</figure>There are innocent explanations — a workshop movement, a yard shunt, a technician repositioning a vehicle — and there are not-innocent ones. The point is that each instance needs explaining rather than ignoring.
It is one of the easiest things for an examiner to find, because it requires only comparing two datasets both of which the operator is required to hold.
A pattern of it is more serious than an instance, because it suggests either a practice of driving without a card or a workshop process that nobody has documented.
What goes wrong in practice
- Instances never investigated, so a pattern builds unnoticed.
- Workshop movements not recorded, making innocent mileage indistinguishable from concealed driving.
- Vehicle unit downloads not done at all, so the discrepancy can never be seen.