- Emergencies
Employers must schedule work in such a way that workers are able to comply with these regulations. However, provided road safety is not jeopardised, and to enable the worker to reach a suitable stopping place, the mobile worker may depart from these rules to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of persons, the vehicle or of its load. It only applies in cases where it unexpectedly becomes impossible to comply with these regulations.
It is for the mobile worker to decide whether it is necessary to depart from the working time rules (taking account of ensuring road safety in the process, and any instruction that may be given by an enforcement officer (for example under Police ■■■■■■). The driver (or mobile worker) should record all the reasons for doing so. Repeated and regular occurrences however might indicate that employers were not in fact scheduling work to enable compliance with these regulations.
There are two instances that I can immediately think of where this is likely to apply,
The first is on the last day of Week 17, where you are stuck in traffic and reach a total of 712 hours. Not very likely to ever happen, but theoretically possible.
The second is where you have spent the first, say, the first three hours of your working day loading/yard duties, etc, and then set out on a journey that would normally take about 2 1/2 hours but, because of unforeseen traffic delays, takes longer than three hours, thereby ‘triggering’ the requirement to take a minimum break after 6 hours.
What they are probably referring to, and possibly mis-reading is,
However, time spent on voluntary activities (e.g. driving a vehicle on Gala days) does not count toward the working time limits. In addition, time spent performing activities for the emergency services or Armed Forces (such as being a retained fire fighter, special constable, and duties performed whilst being a member of the reserve forces (Territorial Army etc) should not count toward the limits under the these Regulations.
I can envisage that the only training most companies will have had is to attend a Seminar or Presentation hosted by private trainers within the Business sector. After all, these Regs have provided them with an ideal opportunity to make easy money. And of course, these trainers will have handed out various bits of paper highlighting the main points.
The problem arises at the Q & A stage where, these people having little or no involvement with Road Haulage, are presented with unexpected questions, and have to rack their brains to provide an answer ‘on the hoof’, or simply that a member of the audience has gone away with a distorted version of what they heard.
At least here, the answer is researched before it is given. 
But, even then, we could still be proved wrong. 