mrhankey:
Hi there,been reading a few posts about breaks etc as i am trying to get to grips with it all before i book my course.
what weekly hours can you do once you become a driver?
i.e. overtime etc. is it fine to work like 50 hour weeks ?
thanks again
This can be a bit complex because of the way working hours can be calculated but I’ll keep this as simple as I can.
You can be at work work for up-to 13 hours a day, this can be extended to 15 hours three times between weekly rest periods and you can work 6 days (144 hours) before needing a weekly rest period.
So if you consider that three 15 hour shifts would be 45 hours, and three 13 hour shifts is another 39 hours, you can see that you could be at work for 84 hours, though most people aren’t.
Actually by splitting the daily rest periods you could be at work for 15 hours a day for 6 days before needing a weekly rest period, so that would be a maximum of 90 hours at work, but don’t worry most jobs don’t require that to be done 
Bear in mind that what I’ve posted above includes breaks.
I said this can be a bit complex, that’s because the time you can be at work is not the same as working time as defined in the regulations, basically although you can legally do a maximum of 60 hours per week working time as defined by the regulations, that can be increased to over 84 hours by adding breaks and POA.
It’s not really possible to say how many hours a driver is expected to work because of the large variety of different jobs in road transport, some people will do maximum hours often some people do 8 hours a day.
Drivers Hours Regulations
Driving Breaks
- 45 minutes break after 4½ hours driving.
- The 45 minute driving break can be split into 2 parts, the first part must be at-least 15 minutes, the second part must be at-least 30 minutes, and they must be taken in that order.
Driving
- Maximum 9 hours driving between daily rest periods.
- Maximum driving between daily rest periods can be extended to 10 hours twice a week.
- Maximum 56 hours driving per week.
- Maximum 90 hours driving in any 2 consecutive weeks.
Daily Rest
- Must have a daily rest period of at-least 11 hours within the 24 hour period from the start of the shift (maximum 13 hour shift).
- The daily rest period can be reduced to 9 hours 3 times between 2 weekly rest periods (maximum 15 hour shift).
- Reduced daily rest periods do not have to be compensated for.
- A regular daily rest period can be taken in two parts, the first part can be taken at any time and must be at-least 3 consecutive hours, the second part must be at-least 9 consecutive hours and must be completed within 24 hours from the start of the shift (maximum 15 hour shift).
Weekly Rest
- Must have a weekly rest period of at-least 45 hours in a week.
- Weekly rest period can be reduced to no less than 24 hours-
- In any two consecutive weeks you must have at-least 1 regular 45 hour weekly rest period and 1 reduced weekly rest period.
- Compensation for reduced weekly rest periods must be paid back en block no later than the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest period was taken.
Working Time Regulations
RT(WT)R Breaks
- You should not exceed 6 hours working time without a break of at-least 15 minutes.
- If your working time is more than 6 hours but not more than 9 hours you should have a total of at-least 30 minute break/breaks during the shift.
- If your working time exceeds 9 hours you should have a total of at-least 45 minute break/breaks during the shift.
- Breaks for the working time regulations can be split into separate breaks of at-least 15 minutes each.
- Breaks that are at the immediate start of finish of the shift will not count for the working time regulations (breaks must interrupt the working time).
Working Time
- Maximum 60 hours working time in a week (this does not include breaks or POA).
- Average working time over the reference period must not exceed 48 hours per week.
Driving breaks also count as working time breaks and where appropriate vice versa.