Hurryup&wait:
But my question is what if more than 6 x 24 four periods have passed since my last weekly rest before I get off the boat?e.g. I start Monday at 8 am and do 6 shifts without a qualifying weekly rest. I get the ferry home on Saturday night during a qualifying regular daily rest and it docks at 9 am Sunday morning…Can I drive off using ferry interruption?
Legally a weekly rest period must start no later than six 24 hour periods (144 hours) from the end of the previous weekly rest period.
If you was not in-scope of EU regulations at any time in the previous fixed week a new weekly rest period should start no later than six 24 hours periods (144 hours) from when you first started work in the current week (which in this example would be 08:00 Monday).
In either case, as far as I can see you must start a new weekly rest period no later than 08:00 Sunday which would prevent you from legally leaving the ferry at 09:00 Sunday.
Hurryup&wait:
A simplistic “Cannot” interrupt weekend rest doesn’t cut it as when my 45 is up I usually drive to and on the ferry using the 2 interruptions while still on weekly rest.
Not legally you don’t, you cannot legally interrupt a weekly rest period therefore your working week starts when you start your journey to the port.
This article will be on of interest to you (This is a guidance note issued by the EU commision)
The derogation in article 9 (1) that’s mentioned is the regulation that allows you to interrupt a regular daily rest period, Notice the last sentence in the article.
Issue: Recording of time spent on board of a ferry or train where the driver has access to a
bunk or couchette.Article: 9 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006
Approach to be followed: Generally during a rest, a driver shall be able, according to Article
4(f), to dispose freely of his/her time. However, a driver is entitled to take his/her break or
rest, daily or weekly, when he/she is travelling by ferry or train, provided that he/she has
access to a bunk or couchette. This stems from the wording of Article 9(2) which stipulates
that any time spent travelling "shall not be counted as a rest or break unless the driver is on
ferry or a train and has access to a bunk or couchette".Furthermore, in line with Article 9(1) a regular daily rest period of at least 11 hours take
on a ferry or a train (if a driver has access to a bunk or a couchette) may be interrupted twice
as a maximum, by other activities (such as embarking or disembarking from the ferry boat or
train). The total time of these two interruptions may not exceed 1 hour. This time must not, in
any case, result in any reduction of a regular daily rest period.These two interruptions can take place any time during the regular daily rest period, also
where this daily rest period exceeds the minimum period of eleven hours and continues
beyond 24 hours from the end of the previous rest period. However, at least 11 hours of this
daily rest must be taken within 24 hours since the end of the previous rest period. Otherwise it
should be regarded an infringement of the provision on regular daily rest.The derogation under Article 9(1) remains applicable to the regular daily rest, which is longer
than the minimum required by the Regulation and which starts on the land before embarking
on the ferry/train and continues on the land after disembarking from the ferry/train.
In case of a regular daily rest taken in two periods, the first of which must be of at least 3
hours and the second of at least 9 hours (as stipulated in Article 4(g)), the number of
interruptions (maximum two) concerns the whole period of daily rest and not each part of a
regular daily rest taken in two periods.The derogation under Article 9(1) does not apply to a weekly rest period, whether reduced or
regular.