Jonny17291:
OK I’ve got a couple of questions, I’ve asked fellow lorry drivers and each person seems to have a different answer so if u could clear the air for me on these.
1: can you stop on the hard shoulder if you have to have a break when stuck in traffic, either the 45 mins or 30 mins and you’re not getting to a service station any time soon?
No you cannot legally stop on the hard shoulder for a break, plan your stopping places so you can have your breaks where it’s legal, if you get caught out stop as soon as you can and write an explanation on a printout.
However if you’re stuck in traffic that is not moving and not likely to move soon you can put your tachograph on break, but do not pull onto the hard shoulder where you may obstruct emergency vehicles.
Jonny17291:
2: ok the rule I know is you can’t go over 60 hours a week of driving time/ other work.
But on a regular basis I’m doing between 13-15 hours and roughly 7-8 hours of driving. I’ve been told 2 things regarding your weekly rest,
1 - it’s based on a 24 hour period so for example saying you start at 15:30 and finish at 05:30 (14hr) and I wasn’t starting work the next day till say 20:30. Would my rest be 10 hours or would it be 15 hours as I’ve been told 2 different things.
You’re confusing the 60 hour week with the daily rest periods, they’re completely separate rules.
For the working time regulations you cannot work more than 60 hours in a fixed week but that does not include breaks or POA.
You need to have an 11 hour daily rest period completed within 24 hours from the start of the shift, the daily rest period can be reduced to 9 hours 3 times between weekly rest periods (not 3 time per fixed week) .
Any rest taken that does not fall within the period of 24 hours from the start of the shift does not count towards the daily rest period:
-Therefore if you start work at 15:30 and finish at 05:30 you’re having a 10 hour reduced daily rest period because only the rest up-to 15:30 (24 hours from the start of the shift) counts towards the daily rest period.
Jonny17291:
3: how many times can i work over 13 hours?
You can have 3 reduced daily rest periods between 2 weekly rest periods, therefore on single manned journeys you can do shifts of over 13 hours 3 times between weekly rest periods, that is of course assuming that you don’t do a 13 hour or less shift and still have a reduced daily rest period by having less than 11 hours rest…
However, there is such a thing as a split daily rest period, a split daily rest period is when you have 3 consecutive hours rest during the shift and another 9 hours rest after the shift, again this has to be completed within the period of 24 hours from the start of the shift.
A split daily rest period does not count as a reduced daily rest period, so you could do 15 hour spread-overs every shift if you have split daily rest periods.
Jonny17291:
I’ve been told it’s 3 times a week regardless. I’ve also been told as long I don’t drive more than 9 hours and my weekly hours don’t go over the 60 hours I can work 6 15 hour shifts if I wanted to or is strictly 3 times a week whatever the driving time?
(bearing in mind a [zb] load of breaks in there lol)
You’ve been told wrong, neither your driving time nor the 60 hour week have much to do with how many times you can do shifts over 13 hours, the maximum length of the shift is dependant on getting your daily rest period into the 24 hour period from the start of the shift, that’s regardless of whether it’s a reduced daily rest period or a split daily rest period.
…