I’d like a bit of advice please as I’m confused over when I work and when I can’t now that the WTD has appeared.
I work Mon to Friday 05:00 till 13.:00 (40 hour week, no overtime) driving on domestic rules class 1.
I fancied earning an extra crust at weekends, not very weekend, just now and then.
As most companies are on EU rules, what hours can I work Saturday and Sunday if any at all.
Advice would be greatly appreciated
thanks
p.s aplogies to moderator if I hit wrong button and posted in wrong place
It’s not RTD that causes you problems (as it doesn’t apply to mobile workers subject to Domestic Hours) however, it is our old friend “EC 3820/85” that limits what you can work at weekends.
Basically, as soon as you drive under EC rules you are required to take an EC daily rest period; 11 hours, reducible to 9 hours (twice in a fixed week), within the 24 hour period starting when you commenced work/driving. You will also be required to take an EC weekly rest period after the sixth driving period or at the end of the sixth day. That is 45 hours reducible to 36 if taken at home/vehicle base or 24 hours if taken ‘away.’ Any reduction in rest must be compensated for by an equivalent amount of rest being added to a daily or weekly rest period. In the case of daily rest it must be before the end of the following week. In the case of weekly rest it must be by the end of the third following week.
Right down to your case. If you finish at 13:00 on Friday you cannot start work / driving before 22:00 hrs Friday. Given that you need to start work on your usual job at 05:00 hrs Monday and you need at least 36 hrs rest (at home) then you must finish your shift by no-later than 18:00 hrs on Saturday. Don’t forget that under the EC Regs your total days’ duty can only be 15 hrs (i’m not going to complicate matters with ‘split-shifts’ here!! So if you do start at 22;00 hrs Friday you will have to finish by 13:00 hrs Saturday anyway. This would then give you 41 hrs rest before starting your usual job on Monday morning, leaving you only 4 hours to ‘make-up’ at some stage.
Now for the bit under RTD; as you would be working during the night time reference period (00:00 to 04:00 for HGV’s) you have a ten hour shift limit. However, you can ‘opt out’ of this. Assuming you’re working through an agency, they will probably be only to keen to supply the relevent paperwork for you to sign. Be careful that you do not do EC work on more than 11 occasions during the 17 week reference period, otherwise you will fall back into the full scope of RTD. You could make an agreement with the agency/employer that the reference period should be 26 weeks long, in which case you could work on EC jobs for upto 16 days before becoming effected by the RTD Regs.
Don’t forget that you are at present covered by the WTD Regulations that limit your normal working week to 48 hours. However, you can currently ‘opt out’ of these. Although with the recent vote in the European Parliment this may change in the next 2-3 years.
Thank you very much for the reply.
Much appreciated its definitely a confusing subject
I think I might go sailing instead
You could do some recovery work, that’s non tacho.
And most recovery companies are short of weekend drivers.
Thanks Daxi for your reply, will give it a try