Driving & rest breaks question

Nine_Lives

What's the law on this? I've tried looking up but laws and times seem to overlap & it all gets a bit confusing.

I know about the 45min tacho break & such, but this is about the end of week break, specifically for 7.5t vehicle category.

A relative of mine who's new to the driving scene drove a couple week ago (26Mar-1stApr week), he also drove last week (2Apr-8Apr week).

From what other drivers say, i understood it that he was due a 45hr break this weekend just passed, yet he finished at 4pm on Saturday & started work at 8am on Monday this week.

I spoke to someone in our transport office about it who is supposed to be just about the only one who supposedly understands this law, but even he was hazy...

He said that this relative of mine was due his 45hr break the weekend just passed, BUT that it can be reduced. He didn't know what to though. He also said that this needs to be made up/caught up within the next 3 weeks.

All so confusing & the lad in question really doesn't understand all these breaks.

Anyone able to enlighten?

Notmyrealname

OK...
Daily Breaks:
You have to have a daily break of 11hrs which may be reduced to 9 hours three times a week. Basically that means you can work 13hrs a day which can be extended to 15hrs three times a week.

Weekly Breaks.
You have to have a weekly rest period after no more than 6 duty periods of 45hrs. This may be reduced to 24hrs however the remaining 21hrs hours must be compensated for by the end of the third week. You cannot take two reduced weekly rests in a row.

The missing hours can be compensated by either adding to the daily rest period or a weekly rest period. For example, if he only works 9hrs a day and has 15hrs off then 4hrs a day would go towards compensating for the missing 21hrs unless he wanted to treat some days as reduced daily rest in which case on those days he would compensate 6hrs. If he finishes work on Friday at 5pm and then starts again on Monday at 8am he would have had 63hrs off so there would be 18hrs reclaimed there.

I spoke to someone in our transport office about it who is supposed to be just about the only one who supposedly understands this law, but even he was hazy...

It is the responsibility of every driver to make sure they do.

Another thing concerns me, actually two.
1) When did he pass his car test because he won't have Category C1 for 7.5t on his licence if it was after 1/1/1997
2) If he has recently got Cat C1 on his licence, has he done a DCPC because without one he cannot be employed as a driver on any vehicle heavier than a 3.5t van.

banger9365

has above and do not forget about the working time laws
30 min break every six hours and POA (period of availability{working but not working,})can extend it by the amount off POA in them six hours

and theirs a lot lot more to know than what been said here

Notmyrealname

Indeed. Didn't want to go for the full monty for fear of frying the poor sods brain.

I like how people think lorry drivers are thick but when you explain drivers hours to them they go "EH?". And when you explain that you have to be able to work it all out in your head as you're driving down the road if there's a delay, diversion or the job alters in order to know if you can do the run, where and when you'll need to take a break and when you'll arrive as a result, they're even more dumbfounded.

kevin0410

The driver in question in the OP has reduced his weekly rest by 5 hours. This 5h has to be added to a weekly rest period by the end of the third week after the reduction.

banger9365 wrote: »

has above and do not forget about the working time laws
30 min break every six hours and POA (period of availability{working but not working,})can extend it by the amount off POA in them six hours

and theirs a lot lot more to know than what been said here

You only need 15 mins after 6 hours work

Notmyrealname

kevin0410 wrote: »

You only need 15 mins after 6 hours work

Wrong.

The Road Transport Directive states 30 minutes. The Working Time Directive doesn't apply. However if you had your 45 minutes of tacho break then even if you did it as a split break you've had a 30 minute break to satisfy the RTD and the 6hr clock was reset at the end of the break.

kevin0410

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Wrong.

The Road Transport Directive states 30 minutes. The Working Time Directive doesn't apply. However if you had your 45 minutes of tacho break then even if you did it as a split break you've had a 30 minute break to satisfy the RTD and the 6hr clock was reset at the end of the break.

sorry, but you're wrong.
Either that or the tachographs on our fleet are all faulty, as i never get infringements and only have 15 mins break during the first 8 hours!

Paradigm

kevin0410 wrote: »

Either that or the tachographs on our fleet are all faulty, as i never get infringements and only have 15 mins break during the first 8 hours!

If you're only having 1 x 15 minute break in 8 hours work then you're not complying with the working time regs.

Do you use POA? Are you having another break at the end of your shift? Are you counting any driving time tacho breaks?

kevin0410

Paradigm wrote: »

If you're only having 1 x 15 minute break in 8 hours work then you're not complying with the working time regs.

Do you use POA? Are you having another break at the end of your shift? Are you counting any driving time tacho breaks?

i have a 15 min break after 4 hours work and then a 30 after about 8 hours work. I don't exceed 4.5h driving

Paradigm

kevin0410 wrote: »

i have a 15 min break after 4 hours work and then a 30 after about 8 hours work. I don't exceed 4.5h driving

So that complies then.. that'll be why you don't get any infringements

Paradigm

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Wrong.

The Road Transport Directive states 30 minutes. The Working Time Directive doesn't apply. However if you had your 45 minutes of tacho break then even if you did it as a split break you've had a 30 minute break to satisfy the RTD and the 6hr clock was reset at the end of the break.

30 mins when?

What does this mean?