Driving at work regulations

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Tony

Whilst driving 3.5 t vehicle you are not required to fill out a manual tacho,it is best practise to do so. Especially if you drive a 7.5 t vehicle as well.

If stopped by VOSA whilst driving 7.5 t and they request to see your tachos. So you show them the ones you have and there are days missing. You tell them you drive a van on the other days. VOSA then can ask you to prove it. And nobody wants Vosa snooping around.

Carl

To answer your last question Keith, you can find details on :-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029426

As you are driving under a tacho your employer must have an OPS licence and should know about the Working Time Directive?

Hi Keith,

Just to clear up Driving Time and Working Time.

You can only drive for a maximum of 4.5 hrs then you require a 45 minute break.

If you are on multidrop then you may work 6 hours and still not require a tacho break as you have not done 4.5 hrs driving, but the Working Time regulations then kick in and you must of had a 30 minute continous break.
If your tacho's are been analysed this will give you DrivingTime and Working Time infringement notifications.

Hope this helps.

thanks for replying to my question,that is also more or less what i was told ,BUT i cannot find written evidence of such which is what i require to show my employers can anyone help further

Yup, multi-drop driving does sort of fall outside usual driver regs as there would be deemed sufficient changes in activity to negate the risks of remaining seated, as per longhaul driving or flight or DSE operation, that could lead to increased risk cardio-vascular problems and/or vigilance decremation exacerbated by fatigue manifested in prolonged periods focused on a single activity.

So, multi-dropping considered as more normal working conditions not requiring any special mitigation or reasonable adaption for the prevention of fatigue related risk factors.

i drive a 7.5 ton multi drop truck, i know the uk tacho laws concerning breaks i.e.
4.5 hours driving /break of 45 mins / and various derivatives of .but just recently i was told that if i`m multi droping that i can drive 6 hours before a break,but this info i carnt find anywhere can someone help me

The split break rules under EU driving regulations is that if a break of 3 or more hours is achieved where the individual is free to dispose of their time as they wish, then the minimum break required between shifts is 9 hours, this gives an aggregate of 12 hours in a 24 hour period and NO compensatory time off is required, remember that these are driving at work regulations, but as the WTD gives nearly the same, best practice, I feel is to follow the EU guidelines, Compensatory rest in driving is now only required if an individual has a reduced weekly rest period of under 45 hours, the employer then has to compensate, en masse within three weeks ie, 36 hour rest period equals a compensatory rest period of 9 hours to be added to either a daily rest of at least 11 hours (total 20) or a weekly rest of at least 45 hours (total 54).

Regards

Drew Reid

Daily and weekly rest periods under EU drivers' hours rules
You must take a daily rest period within 24 hours of the previous daily or weekly rest period. A regular daily rest period is defined as a rest of at least 11 hours.

According to the European Union (EU) drivers' hours rules, a 'rest' is an uninterrupted period where you may do what you like. Time that is spent working for yourself or others, no matter what the occupation, cannot be counted as rest. Time that you spend learning or doing something under obligation is also not counted as rest.

Hope this helps mark

Jim

Can someone provide any information on "compensatory breaks" that mean the 11 hour break between shifts is not required. This refers to care workers who only work when with clients, the company has them wtih clients from say 7am till 10 am then a break till 2pm then with clients from 2pm till 10pm. Note the time with clients is usually between 15 mins and an hour, so they are not working all the hours. The company then expects them to start at 7am the following day. Therefore only getting a 9 hour break, the company says as they get breaks during the day - compensatory breaks - that the 11 hour rule is not relevant.

Russell, Re: post from 19th January.
I haven't been able to get that information, and he's now living in spain, unfortunately I cant find any reference to it, although I know the law was specifically European law, can't help thinking that this may heave been pushed through the courts prior to it actually becoming law, maybe for case law?

You have the right to a break of at least 11 hours between working days. This means as an adult worker, if you finish work at 8.00 pm on Monday you should not start work until 7.00 am on Tuesday.
Your work-related journey on day 1 ceased at 10:00 p.m. so your start time the following day should have been no earlier than 9:00 a.m.
Your employer must give you at least the rest breaks required by the Working Time Regulations. They must also ensure that your health and safety is not put at risk. This means that your employer might have to give you more than the amount set out in the regulations, if this reduces a health and safety risk.
I sugest you check out www.direct.gov.uk

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 : Employers have a ‘duty of care’ for the safety of employees at work, regardless of the type or size of the business.
There is also a duty of care to others who may be affected by their business activities, which, in the case of driving, means all other road users. So if you are working long hours then driving you are putting everone at risk and both you and your employer have a shared responsability. Therefor a hotel stop is not unreasonable

How did you protest James?

James,

You work from home (for practical and taxation purposes) so therefore any mileage travelled and time taken to travel for a business related purpose has to be counted in your working hours. If your firm had any sense they would have realised that it would have been better to have an agreement with a garage near to you for the servicing or to have the car transported to your office, and to leave you with a temporary hire car perhaps. Under the Working Time Directive it would be useful for you to record your daily business related hours for future reference, if you don't do already.

If taken to Tribunal stage (constructive or actual dismissal for instance) your firm would be stood on very shaky legs based on your information.

Russell's comments are quite correct!

James I think you were entirely right to ask for a hotel stop. What a joke your company are expecting you to do anything else. Have you got a drivers handbook? Does it state in there a maximum daily mileage? I suspect not . Surely a stop in a travel inn wouldn't have been as expensive as the petrol. Enjoy your hearing because i think whoever asked you to do this is going to end up with egg on their face. At least i hope so.

Hi I wonder if someone could please help me.

I work for a company as a field engineer. I am based from home, but my head office is over 200 miles away.

I was required to drive my company car to work for service. It had to be there for 9am. Therefore I was up at 4.30 in the morning to get there on time.

Whilst the car was in service, i was required to work in the workshop. By 5.30 i was informed that my car would not be ready untill the following morning. Therefore they gave me another car to drive back home (which would have made it 10pm when i got home) and then return the car the following morning by 9am as it was also due for service.

This would have shown my time as follows:

day 1

Up at 4.30 am
Drive till 9am
work till 5.30pm
drive till 10pm

next morning......
up at 4.30 am
drive till 9am
drive home 3.5 - 4hrs


I protested that this would be dangerous as i would only have 6 hours sleep between driving. They put me up in a hotel for the night, but i am now facing a disciplinary hearing because or this protestation.

Was i within my rights to do this? and where do I stand. Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated.

Please note, in my opinion, this company has no regards for employee welfare.

thanks for that drew told them they were wrong, we do 400 - 600 miles a day and we should be working under EU regs but they like to manipulate the rules to suit themselves mmmm where have i heard that before i hear everyone cry

Well said Russell, all the rules and regulations actually mean squat, should a driver deem he needs a rest break due to fatigue then he takes one, as a Transport Manager I personally would not gainsay a driver who said that, I may not be happy but he/she is the one on the ground. As to double manning ubder UK Domestic, you can only apply domestic regs if the journey total is within 50KM of your base depot.

We have a lot of rules and regulations being quoted. What has happened to good old fashioned common sense. The Highway codes states that you should not drive for more than 2 hours without a fifteen minute break. This of course isn't always possible but surely a well rested driver is untimately going to be safer on the roads. Maybe thats nieve of me but thats the driver traner coming out .