This was the reply after being queried because coppers busted someone for doing 7 shifts
QUOTE
DVSA’s examiner was right in that it is perfectly acceptable to have more than 6 shifts between weekly rest periods.
The legislation makes it abundantly clear that the maximum time allowed between weekly rests periods is indeed 144 hours because Article 8(6) says “A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period”. It can start earlier if the driver or operator so chooses but there is no legal requirement to start it before the 144 hour point has been reached. If Article 8(6) did not include the words “no later than” it would force drivers to continue working until the 144 hour point thereby preventing them from taking more rest that the minimum required and would make it harder for operators to schedule work as it would have to be so precise!
If a driver carries out the maximum amount of duty/driving each day then of course it would not be possible to have more than 6 shifts but if he carries out a series of shorter shifts, such as in the example you give, then he can. It is true that where a shorter shift takes place we will calculate a new 24 hour period from the end of the daily rest period that follows it, but that is only for the purposes of ensuring the next daily rest period falls within a 24 hour period but it does not mean that a short shift coupled with its daily rest period is then taken to be 24 hours for weekly rest calculations.
I am a bit surprised that the Police took the approach they did, because it has been an accepted fact it is possible to do more than 6 shifts between weekly rest periods for at least as long as I have been involved in enforcing/interpreting drivers hours rules which is 20 years. The Police do usually follow our lead, as clearly it is DVSA’s specific role to enforce these rules so we are the acknowledged experts, however we are unable to require them to do so.
In our guidance on GOV.uk we do actually mention 144 hours where we explain back to back weekly rest periods (see Section 1.5) but it doesn’t specifically refer to doing more than 6 shifts: