My last infringement was over 12 months ago and that was due to being stuck on a closed M6. My last infringement before that was almost another 12 months. So I respect the rules and comply with them 100%.
But I’m sorry with this scenario we are discussing I would not give a ■■■■ and I’d be going home driving the work van if I had to.
chipliner:
What would the outcome be if you had been planned a day that would be well within your driving and duty times but due to a breakdown you run out of duty time an hour from home and can’t park as you have livestock on and are controlled by veterinary regulations,
You are now faced with a 16-17 hour shift as the livestock has to come off ,to comply with vet regulations,
No relief available as your at the busy time of the year ,
These are the kind of problems that a driver can face and can’t do right for doing wrong ,no wonder there is a national shortage of drivers when we can’t even answer our own questions without a debate ,
It’s up to the driver to decide and if it came to it, justify what the 1st suitable place to stop is, if you deem that’s completing your journey, then do it all with your card in, when you stop do a printout out and write on what the delay was, your reasons for going as far as you did and sign it, if it’s all justified, you will not get prosecuted
With livestock you’ll also have the option of going tipping them off at say another livestock hauliers lairage
For journeys planned to be over 8 hours, which includes loading and unloading, then you’re required to have contingency plans in place too
Franglais:
stevieboy308:
Franglais:
DickyNick:
I think if it’s planned like that then it’s different and I appreciate the rules in that case, but if it’s due to an accident or whatever then I really would have no issue breaking the rules and just driving works van back so I can go home.So that’s an exceptional circumstance. And so long as a correct break is taken (without travelling time being counted as break) I would think that’d be OK.
Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
Legally you can only go to the 1st suitable place to park when going over, not complete your journey
Yes. And if there is no accomodation?
No sleeper cab and no hotel, then a taxi, car or van is surely OK?
If it’s a sleeper cab. And it’s merely a convenience to the employer, then it’s wrong to prolong the driver’s day. If it’s to get them to a bed surely that’s OK?Edit to add.
Any travelling time is not part of rest time whether as driver or passenger.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
It’s not suitable parking if there’s no accommodation and you’re in a day cab, so you’re legal to carry on to reach the 1st suitable parking, if someone wants to try and convince powers that be that you couldn’t fine somewhere suitable, so ran 2 hours over back to the yard, well that’s upto them!! Commonsense again!
DickyNick:
My last infringement was over 12 months ago and that was due to being stuck on a closed M6. My last infringement before that was almost another 12 months. So I respect the rules and comply with them 100%.But I’m sorry with this scenario we are discussing I would not give a [zb] and I’d be going home driving the work van if I had to.
That’s up to you, I’d think the majority of us have done the same at some point, but do it with your eyes open, you are taking care risk albeit it a slim one, but as juddian said, when the smart GPS tacho’s come out people are gonna be very easily busted for this one.
It’s like when on wax charts, people would get busted for writing down where they got out of the wagon, then when checked they’ve dropped themselves in it, as they then don’t finish and start at the same place.
I’d park up a bit early, put a manual entry on the back for some other work till the end of my duty then write the yard as my finish place.
When Digi came out with just a start and finish country, then you’d really have to mess up to drop yourself in it. But the new ones coming, I’d think there’ll be a clamp down on it and it’ll become less common
chipliner:
What would the outcome be if you had been planned a day that would be well within your driving and duty times but due to a breakdown you run out of duty time an hour from home and can’t park as you have livestock on and are controlled by veterinary regulations,
You are now faced with a 16-17 hour shift as the livestock has to come off ,to comply with vet regulations,
No relief available as your at the busy time of the year ,
These are the kind of problems that a driver can face and can’t do right for doing wrong ,no wonder there is a national shortage of drivers when we can’t even answer our own questions without a debate ,
We carry loads that can’t be parked anywhere but a secure base. I had one a few years back where a crew were picking up a container from Liverpool which had to be craned from the ship onto the trailer directly, there were delays at port but we tend to factor a bit of delay time in and we got down to Essex somewhat later than intended, but just about in hours though. However, getting there, the security guard hadn’t been told we were coming and wouldn’t let us in ( not his fault) and couldn’t raise any of the bosses, so we had to head back to base. That was 2.5 hours over. We lodged a letter in the file along with the drivers printout and, despite a DVSA turnover, it wasn’t a problem because it was an unusual occurence, when the rest of the hours were right.
I know nothing about livestock, but I could see that a one off occasion would not be an issue.
I agree with Albion, and like in my case (18 hour shift due to trailer blow out with weird, transporter, tyre size which took hours and hours to locate a new tyre) because it was a one off and i’d done it all correctly, written on the disc the issues, when i got tugged for check weight the next week, VOSA had no problem at all.
VOSA/DVSA become annoyed when you take the ■■■■, try to hide things, or take them for fools which they bloody aint.
I have done livestock but only for a short time and many years ago, welfare of animals is a different ball game, sensible action is obvious to care for the the animals, show what and why you’ve done it, you won’t have any trouble.
Not carried sheep for years but racehorses can hardly be left in the nearest field.
If it doesn’t go to plan then I get the horses home and write ‘war and peace’ on the back of any printout. I don’t lie or try to hide anything but the horses’ welfare is my main concern (and the fact some of them are worth a blinking fortune) so I get them where they need to be
Different rules apply on Fridays. 
Harry Monk:
Different rules apply on Fridays.
Aint that the truth.
I’ve said that I wouldn’t want to spend 9 hours in that cab. But given the day - it would have actually been 45 hours! Which was never going to happen.
Back in the 90s when I was doing a lot of agency driving for Blakes out of Alcester, this was pretty routine. Set off at 4am (after a 3am start) and drive to London with first drop at Smithfield. After that, four or five drops all over London and a collection in Dagenham.
With a bit of luck, you could make it back by 7pm to Oxford MSA or even Cherwell, and they would send a driver in a van to run home. We got paid for all the hours and I think my b̶e̶s̶t̶ worst was 21. I would probably have been back in at 4am the next day too.
Post ‘Skills’ there was a clampdown and Blakes and a load of their drivers were heavily fined - I got away with it.