How long do you have to work before you can have a break
I believe you can take a break after 1 minute’s driving.
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a break
A total of 4.5hrs driving or 6hrs work or combined work/driving, whichever comes first is the maximum. If it’s the 4.5hrs it’s a 45 minute minimum break, if it’s the 6hrs before you reach 4.5hrs driving it’s 15 minutes minimum.
As long as at least one minutes’s driving is recorded on the tacho you can take a driving break. Question though is why are you asking? If you’re having to rush the job so much that you feel you have to use this little ruse so you can get somewhere quicker or manage to do a run then you need to question both who you work for and how you do the job. At best putting a minute on your card and then taking a break at the start of a shift will only get you home 15 minutes earlier.
Not being critical but isn’t this something people should know before even being issued with an HGV licence.
I thought this was part of the curriculum for HGV and DCPC.
Most drivers think it is 1 hour before you can take a break
I knew the answer
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a break
You can have a break at anytime but for it to count as a driving break you must have done at-least one minute of driving.
For it to count for the WTD you must have done at-least one minute of work.
Presumably those still on analogue tachos can do any (visable) period of driving probably 15 seconds (might be best to do at least 30 to be sure… 
Technically I guess one minute might count but there’s an oldish VOSA video where their representative (Juan Maddrell, if it matters) recommends 5 minutes as a minimum for it to be considered “measurable”.
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a break
Have a break when you feel like a break,BUT no longer than 4.5 driving or 6 WTD
To many think they can`t have a break before maximum drive time or WTD, if I was parked up over night and was passing bye a cafe or snack bar I stopped even if I had only been driving 1.00 hour or less.
lolipop:
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a breakHave a break when you feel like a break,BUT no longer than 4.5 driving or 6 WTD
To many think they can`t have a break before maximum drive time or WTD, if I was parked up over night and was passing bye a cafe or snack bar I stopped even if I had only been driving 1.00 hour or less.
I can never understand these guys who look upon breaks as a hold up,.a ballache, or something you ‘‘have to get in’’.rather than a benefit.
I take a break when I want one or feel I ‘need’ a one, that is what they are there for ffs.
I admit I’ll maybe bend the rules a bit now and again by tipping on break if it suits ME for whatever reason, but I sure as hell make up for it afterwards with a proper and actual break.,…and why wouldn’t I seeing as they take 45 minutes off me when they pay me.
I once worked for a (good) firm who paid us right through, but you got the d/heads among us who worked right through saying ''I get paid for it anyway,.so I may as well ‘’ …a classic pork and education situation though eh?
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a break
Ermmh. Well according to one driver known as “One Job Addy”, it was more of a case of how soon can I take a break?
This driver (hypothetically) would complete his vehicle checks (usually 15 minutes of work) drive out of the yard, take a 15 minute break after maybe 5 minutes of driving. Just so he could get caught up in “traffic”. Actually it was to park up and get his breakfast.
So everyone knows this was skip work, collecting waste. He was on a 07:00 start, always on time for his start time.
According to his tacho he did about 4 hours driving in a 10 hour shift. Never got an infringement though.
robroy:
lolipop:
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a breakHave a break when you feel like a break,BUT no longer than 4.5 driving or 6 WTD
To many think they can`t have a break before maximum drive time or WTD, if I was parked up over night and was passing bye a cafe or snack bar I stopped even if I had only been driving 1.00 hour or less.I can never understand these guys who look upon breaks as a hold up,.a ballache, or something you ‘‘have to get in’’.rather than a benefit.
I take a break when I want one or feel I ‘need’ a one, that is what they are there for ffs.
I admit I’ll maybe bend the rules a bit now and again by tipping on break if it suits ME for whatever reason, but I sure as hell make up for it afterwards with a proper and actual break.,…and why wouldn’t I seeing as they take 45 minutes off me when they pay me.I once worked for a (good) firm who paid us right through, but you got the d/heads among us who worked right through saying ''I get paid for it anyway,.so I may as well ‘’
This from Rob, I might bend it because I dont want to have a break at a certain point in the day but the tacho will say I must. I like to get a “break” in after a few hours to get my breakfast and another about 1ish for my lunch. If driving/work times don’t suit this I’ll manufacture them to suit me, sometimes while Im tipping. Same goes for if I have a nice little spot I want to park in to get a decent meal of an evening but might be tight to get there, sneaky reset on the tip to make sure I get there. Better rested in a nice quiet spot with a decent meal that a bend of the rules gets you to than a skanky layby being rocked all night playing it straight. Jobs what you make it, make it work for you.
Ps, im paid right through and hourly with OT after 40hrs so why wouldnt I■■?
Ans is u can have a break aft 1 mins driving time
Conor:
. Question though is why are you asking? If you’re having to rush the job so much that you feel you have to use this little ruse so you can get somewhere quicker or manage to do a run then you need to question both who you work for and how you do the job.
Well, it increases your options. I will drive from outside the yard to inside the yard first thing most days, open the curtains and then put the tacho on rest for 15 minutes while I sit in the cab reading a book or looking at the laptop while I wait to be loaded. After all, I’m not doing any work so I am on a break.
I never know how the day will pan out but it does mean I only have to take a 30 minute break later on rather than a 45 and this can make all the difference between getting to a delivery point before they go for lunch or not, which might cost me an hour of home time.
I’m not pressurised to do this and never work more than 45 hours a week, it’s my choice but it seems to be the most sensible way to arrange things.
I don’t even attempt a 3+ hour drive in one hit, always have a break after maybe 2 hours, ready for coffee and bickies or my now once only weekly greggs breakfast, this means i’ve got a 15 in so restarted the 6 hour rule so i can do my single delivery and stop part way back at my own convenience without inadvertantly going over the 6 hour WTD rule.
The above may vary depending if i’ve got 2 shorter runs, probably have the break on the way back from the first load.
Having the first break too soon after starting if you’re on my sort of job could see you run over the 6 hour if your get problems at a drop.
The 6 hour wtd rule isn’t that hard to keep the right side of once you’re driving, its when you are tipping and some issue or delay crops up and time passes unnoticed.
I’m not driving ATM and might not ever again, BUT the way I see it is you take breaks when you need them not when a machine says you should.
The problem is making sensible & safe breaks match up with rules & regs which treat drivers as robots and are not always in tune with breaks to keep you (and other road users) safe.
Harry Monk:
Conor:
. Question though is why are you asking? If you’re having to rush the job so much that you feel you have to use this little ruse so you can get somewhere quicker or manage to do a run then you need to question both who you work for and how you do the job.Well, it increases your options. I will drive from outside the yard to inside the yard first thing most days, open the curtains and then put the tacho on rest for 15 minutes while I sit in the cab reading a book or looking at the laptop while I wait to be loaded. After all, I’m not doing any work so I am on a break.
I never know how the day will pan out but it does mean I only have to take a 30 minute break later on rather than a 45 and this can make all the difference between getting to a delivery point before they go for lunch or not, which might cost me an hour of home time.
I’m not pressurised to do this and never work more than 45 hours a week, it’s my choice but it seems to be the most sensible way to arrange things.
I tend to pace myself - have a look at what’s expected from me for the day and use breaks or “work” time to pad it out accordingly to fill 8 or so hours. If it turns out to be one of those days where nothing goes according to plan, there are delays, additional runs to be done or trailers to be collected/dropped off I might even end up actually working/driving for most of the day. Otherwise I chill out and play on the phone/Facebook/Trucknet, drink frothy coffees and have even been known to take the unit and trailer to the truck wash to occupy another 45 minutes if needed. Heck, I’ll even voluntarily shift a few trailers around the yard or spend 1/2 an hour practising blind-side reverses. But as I only work three days a week it doesn’t really matter if I occasionally have to work 9 or more hours - the weekend’s only a day or two away and then I can relax…
Fuzrat:
robroy:
lolipop:
SHYTOT:
How long do you have to work before you can have a breakHave a break when you feel like a break,BUT no longer than 4.5 driving or 6 WTD
To many think they can`t have a break before maximum drive time or WTD, if I was parked up over night and was passing bye a cafe or snack bar I stopped even if I had only been driving 1.00 hour or less.I can never understand these guys who look upon breaks as a hold up,.a ballache, or something you ‘‘have to get in’’.rather than a benefit.
I take a break when I want one or feel I ‘need’ a one, that is what they are there for ffs.
I admit I’ll maybe bend the rules a bit now and again by tipping on break if it suits ME for whatever reason, but I sure as hell make up for it afterwards with a proper and actual break.,…and why wouldn’t I seeing as they take 45 minutes off me when they pay me.I once worked for a (good) firm who paid us right through, but you got the d/heads among us who worked right through saying ''I get paid for it anyway,.so I may as well ‘’
This from Rob, I might bend it because I dont want to have a break at a certain point in the day but the tacho will say I must. I like to get a “break” in after a few hours to get my breakfast and another about 1ish for my lunch. If driving/work times don’t suit this I’ll manufacture them to suit me, sometimes while Im tipping. Same goes for if I have a nice little spot I want to park in to get a decent meal of an evening but might be tight to get there, sneaky reset on the tip to make sure I get there. Better rested in a nice quiet spot with a decent meal that a bend of the rules gets you to than a skanky layby being rocked all night playing it straight. Jobs what you make it, make it work for you.
Ps, im paid right through and hourly with OT after 40hrs so why wouldnt I■■?
So■■? What’s wrong with that?
Sometimes having a break is difficult if your doing london runs and with some company saying you can’t take break in the yard… as its tiny and they need the other wagon in
Which is why I look at the manifest and plan accordingly happened once I was getting tipped was on 19mins had 15min banked already I was told to get off the bay so I put it in drive ducked into a corner and put it back on break and it continue over
5 hours and 59 minutes