WTD "Working time" v "Periods of Availability

The (supposed) final draft of the WTD is now in the public domain, and although many people in highly placed positions will be pouring over the contents trying to decipher the implications, there is no reason why we shouldn’t try our bit on exploring the implications.

Previous threads on the topic have referred to the loss of income/rise in pay that will result from only being able to work 60 hours in one week and only 48 hours per week averaged over 17 (or 26) weeks.

So just to post a few points for discussion.

The first thing to get our heads around is

‘period of availability’ means a period during which the mobile worker is not required to remain at his workstation, but is required to be available to answer any calls to start or resume driving or to carry out other work ……………….

For anyone who does RDC work, they will readily identify with this. This is the time that you are in the parking area or on a bay with your head on the bunk.

Now the important bit. The bit that is limited by the legislation is

‘working time’ means the time from the beginning to the end of work during which the mobile worker is at his workstation, at the disposal of his employer and exercising his functions or activities, being …………………………….time during which the mobile worker cannot dispose freely of his time and is required to be at his workstation, ready to take up normal work, with certain tasks associated with being on duty, in particular during periods awaiting loading or unloading where their foreseeable duration is not known in advance, that is to say either before departure or just before the actual start of the period in question,

Now. Having digested those two chunks, and related them to your own working environment/practices, consider the next bit.

4. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, the working time, including overtime, of a mobile worker shall not exceed 60 hours in a week…

Obviously I’ve left chunks out, but consider the final quote. and then notice the words “the working time…”

It does not say “the working time and periods of availability…” It simply says “the working time…” Therefore “Periods of availability” do not count towards the 60 hours in any one week or the 48 hours averaged over, etc.

So before anyone jumps ship prematurely because their hours are going to be foreshortened, think again.

It’s still early days, and only my interpretation, but that’s the way I read it.

I read it the same way Ken,

I for one think that while UKPLC has decided to reunite the family and released the worker from the clutches of the greedy,
unfortunatly us as mobile workers dont count!

So to me this is going to enable some bosses to say, as long as your not driving for more than the old/current tacho rules allow you shall have to do as we say! so maybe 60 hours a week will really mean 70-80 hours a week but we will only get paid for 48.

You’d need a laptop with you to work all your “times” out, I personally plan to ignore it.

The way I see it, periods of availability are not REST or BREAK periods by definition. They can be used as that, but I will expect to be paid from when I turn up for work till I knock off, less my BREAK time (of 45 mins), the same as I am now.

I am not surprised to see that the new regs appear to regulate driving hours only because when the 35 hour week was introduced by the then socialist gov. in France a few years ago, that was exactly how it was interpreted.
We continued as before with our 80 odd hours but were paid for everything on the tacho that was not break. They knew where we were required to load/unload though and where we weren’t.
I see the present gov. is backtracking on it now because of the damage done to the economy.
We didn’t have to wash down on a Sat. am any more though because they didn’t want us to put a disk in!
Salut, David.

Article 3 - Daily rest
Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that every worker is entitled to a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period.

well theres the 9 hours out the window

Article 17 - Derogations

1. With due regard for the general principles of the protection of the safety and health of workers, Member States may derogate from Article 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 16 when, on account of the specific characteristics of the activity concerned, the duration of the working time is not measured and/or predetermined or can be determined by the workers themselves, and particularly in the case of:
   (a) managing executives or other persons with autonomous decision-taking powers;
   (b) family workers; or
   (c) workers officiating at religious ceremonies in churches and religious communities. …
   (c) in the case of activities involving the need for continuity of service or production, particularly:
   (i) services relating to the reception, treatment and/or care provided by hospitals or similar establishments, residential institutions and prisons;
   (ii) dock or airport workers;
   (iii) press, radio, television, cinematographic production, postal and telecommunications services, ambulance, fire and civil protection services;
   (iv) gas, water and electricity production, transmission and distribution, household refuse collection and incineration plants;
   (v) industries in which work cannot be interrupted on technical grounds;
   (vi) research and development activities;
   u agriculture;[/u]
   (d) where there is a foreseeable surge of activity, particularly in:
   (i) agriculture;
   (ii) tourism;
   (iii) postal services;

Milk delivery is ok, and all farming by the looks of it

Silver_Surfer:
You’d need a laptop with you to work all your “times” out, I personally plan to ignore it.

The danger of ignoring it is that once you have completed the maximum number of hours that fall into the category of “Working Time” within any 17/26 week period, then you cannot do any more work. No shunting, no warehouse work, no Agency driving, Zilch, and I cannot see any employer continuing to pay you for a period when they cannot give you work, particularly if the situation could have been avoided if the driver had maintained accurate Activity Records throughout the period in question.

When you think about it, the restrictions can be as onerous or as flexible as you care to make them. For instance. Fuelling at a Services and the time comes to pay, but there has been a sudden rush and people are queueing ten deep to the tills. If you join the queue and spend ten minutes getting to the front, then that is Working Time. However, if you spend that same ten minutes browsing the magazine racks until the queue subsides, then that can be considered as a period of availability.

Krankee:
…For instance. Fuelling at a Services and the time comes to pay, but there has been a sudden rush and people are queueing ten deep to the tills. If you join the queue and spend ten minutes getting to the front, then that is Working Time. However, if you spend that same ten minutes browsing the magazine racks until the queue subsides, then that can be considered as a period of availability.

I was under the impression that you had to be advised of a delay beforehand and it’s likely length for it to be considered a PoA.!

Wirewtister, you ask a valid question.

However, when looking at the Interpretation it reads

‘working time’ means the time from the beginning to the end of work during which the mobile worker is at his workstation, at the disposal of his employer and exercising his functions or activities, being
(a………………………………or
(b)time during which the mobile worker cannot dispose freely of his time and is required to be at his workstation, ready to take up normal work, with certain tasks associated with being on duty, in particular during periods awaiting loading or unloading where their foreseeable duration is not known in advance, that is to say either before departure or just before the actual start of the period in question,………….;

The interesting phrase, or rather the confusing phrase, in this section is “with certain tasks associated with being on duty, in particular during periods awaiting loading or unloading………”.

Because what we have here is two phrases, the first being “with certain tasks associated with being on duty” which we can all relate to vehicle checks (both at the commencement of duty and during driving), load security checks, fuelling, etc.

We then have the phrase “in particular during periods awaiting loading or unloading………”

The phrase “in particular” is dictionary defined as “Specifically or especially distinguished from others”, i.e. distinguished from vehicle checks, load security, fuelling.

The other phrase to take account of, but in different terms is “where their foreseeable duration is not known in advance, that is to say either before departure or just before the actual start of the period in question”. The operative words being “foreseeable duration”.

If we all start turning up at RDC’s or other delivery points, thumping on the counter, and demanding to know what is the ‘Foreseeable duration’ of any delay, then, firstly, we ain’t gonna be too popular, and secondly, any Company with any sense will simply put up a sign saying “Before you ask, The Answer is 4 hours.” Which is no good to man nor beast.

The term ‘foreseeable duration’ is about being professional. We’ve been there before, we know what to expect. The time of day. The day of the week. Turn up at Morrison’s, either Wakefield or Rudd Heath, and see about ten vehicles in the waiting area, even assuming half are just waiting for paperwork, then you know that you have a delay of, or a “foreseeable duration” of at least an hour before you even get on a bay.

And if you thought this was simple, all of the above is just to explain 16 words.

So back to the original point. Do I join the queue or browse the magazine rack.

Periods of availability

6. (1) A period shall not be treated as a period of availability unless the mobile worker knows before the start of the relevant period about that period of availability and its reasonably foreseeable duration.

You holster the nozzle, look through the window, and see the queue. Straight away you realize in advance that there will be a delay of a “foreseeable duration”.

Even if it does not qualify as a “Period of Availability”, then it could equally qualify as a “Break”. Whilst it is true that ‘Breaks’ as required by the WTD must be a minimum of a 15 minute slot (as per the current Driver Hours Regs), there is no prohibition on taking a break of a shorter period. It simply would not count as a statutory break as required by the WTD.

I’m sure that many others, like me, take very short breaks before arriving at destinations in order to have a quick drink, stretch one’s legs, and, whilst passing, just happen to notice the temperature setting on the fridge. It doesn’t count as a break under the Driver’s Hours Regs, because of the short duration, but neither does it count as “Driving Time”. Similarly, nor would it count as “Working Time”.

As an aside, and I hope the persons involved will not mind me mentioning this but, Gurner raised a question about milk collections from farms, both with myself and Davey Driver. I gave my opinion, and Davey spoke to a contact who gave the opposite opinion. Gurner then spoke to the DTI who expressed an opinion identical to Davey’s contact.

Both Davey’s contact and the DTI have now reversed their opinion to confirm that I was right in the first place.

One up for TruckNetUK

my weekly average hours for this year are 51 top line £423