10 hours driving time advice

Today i was 20 minutes away from maxing out my 9 hours driving time in a day cab and i just wanted some advice.

So you can drive for 9 hours a day that can be extended to 10 hours twice a week but when to you do when you tacho starts flashing at 4.15 telling you to take a break ?

Do you just ignore it and keep on driving for another hour or do you need to do something else.

Also do you have to do an extra 30 minutes driving on your first half making it 5 hours driving then take your break then another 5 hours driving or do you take a break after your first 4 hours 30 minutes and just do an extra 1 hour driving in the second part of your 4 hours 30 minutes

Thanks guys.
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You can only drive a MAX 4,30
So 4.30 break 45
4.30 break 45
1.00
Or any combo that fits but no more than 4.30 in any driving stint .

You can never exceed 4.5hrs driving without a break. So, in a perfect world, you could drive for 4.5hrs then have a 45 minute break. Then drive for 3 hours and have a 45 minute break. This leaves you 2.5hrs before you reach the 10 hour driving limit (twice a week). This is purely an example and you can change the numbers around provided that the 4.5hrs is never exceeded.

Hope this helps, Pete :laughing: :laughing:

When you extend the daily driving time you still have to comply with the 4.5 hour driving limit, at no time can you drive more than 4.5 hours without a 45 minute driving break.

This means that when you extend the daily driving time beyond 9 hours you will need to have at-least two 45 minute driving breaks.

Ah thanks guys.

It all makes perfect sense today in the cold light of day but yesterday after a long day at work i just couldn’t think straight.

The journey i completed yesterday could have been done quicker but very early on before I’d even got to my first drop i ran into trouble when i discoved the A69 was closed due to a over turned vehicle and i got rerouted, and that’s pretty much how the rest of the day went for the next 12 hours, running into every traffic jam and diversion in the country.

Still, i really enjoyed the distance side of it, covering 466KM in one shift for the first time.

Thanks again guys, much appreciated.
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Where i work we often do a long day poss night out 6 drops 391 miles as an example, What i like to do is get a 15 whenever then a 30 about 3 hrs driving twice, which then leaves a straight drive for the back 4hrs to see if i can make it, 50/50 shot most times and often stuck in toddington services btm of m1 trying to get to sittingbourne, Not many rigid firms go so far but i like it and often do 2 day runs for them, Monday i am on 2 days 5 drops only over 633mls a steady 2 days at that. Good luck anyway and hope this helps. First drop bishop Auckland Monday 7 hrs drive from our yard, then all other drops are working me way back.

Am doing mulitdrop as well. Yesterday i had 18 drops and still covered that distance.
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If i had 18 drops i would leave, like i did from breaks, but fair play to you getting the experience, i lasted 2 weeks in a job like that, this has been nearly 2 years much steadier but a bit less pay, very managable, and i am now much more happy in my work.

I am looking for a job where i still cover that distance or more but with fewer drops but up till now nothing has come up.

Day shift trunking would be my ideal job and hopefully I’ll get there some day but for now i just need to stick it out for the experience and the money.

I am hoping to return to PSTT next year for my class 1.
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The role i am in is plastics, just in case you find any your way, 6m lengths of facia etc, which you slide out for the customer to take through the back doors as they are in long metal stillages, all hand ball but they slide easily, customers to take it all away from the back of the lorry. Good luck with it all, i work for flowplast, but competition is kay-flow, swish, polypipes, dhm plastics, there may be more but not sure if any are your way.

Yeah some of them ring a bell.

Thanks i may just look into that i little deeper.

Am interested in more distance and fewer drops than am currently doing, anything that gives me more driving time vs other work as i just love driving.
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