POA and Break times

MoffetWizard:

stevieboy308:

MoffetWizard:
Yeah it was just put in for fun that POA function. Just because you’ve never used it doesn’t mean it’s the right and professional way. Your print outs would look unreal.

Any ideas about the ITS and VDO functions ?

It’s a tool for drivers who have all recorded breaks deducted to get paid whilst waiting around while not racking up wtd working time unnecessarily

You are not more professional at all by using poa over break. It shows a lack of understanding to think it is, so less professional?

Poa only effects the wtd side of things.

For the wtd only driving and other work count as working time, break and poa don’t.

In a fixed week your working time can be a max of 60 but can’t average more than 48 at the end of the reference period.

You then have the wtd breaks, you can’t work more than 6 hours at any point without a 15 and must show 30 or 45 in total depending on the total working time in a shift.

Break and poa don’t count towards all the work / working time mentioned above.

There’s 2 reasons to use poa.

1
If you’re paid off the tacho and have all recorded breaks deducted and whilst you want to keep your wtd working time down. Obviously you need your minimum breaks, but any other waiting time bang it on poa, technically you should be told or have experience of how long the wait will be before you can use it, but it’s uncheckable and no one is bothered.

2
If by taking too much break now would mess up your day and you want to keep your wtd working time down.

You’re 5 hours drive from the yard, you’ll be at a drop for an hour, but taking a 45 now will mean a 45 on the way back, take between 15-44 now will mean you’ll only need a 30 on the way back, so switch to poa after 15-44 mins.

Poa will wrongly reset the driving time on your tacho, so if you use it you need to get a pen and paper out to write your times down, for this reason I’d only ever use it if I really had too, if one of the 2 reasons doesn’t apply, just use break when waiting about

You sound more like your trying to convince yourself than being objective.

You are telling me why You would use POA and not what the actual creation ans use of it is for! (the clue is in the name “Period of Availability”).

In your head and the rest you’ve convinced yourselves because it resets the drive time that you lot would rather not bother with it and you lot would be much safer just using break with much less hassle. I hear it a lot from only the older generation of truck drivers.

When I do a printout for myself to see my movements or my card is analysed by say TM or VOSA it is clearly stated day in day out down to a T at what points I have been driving - other work - resting and guess what else - available to work but not actually working! In the event of an incident - in court and the procecution or whoever sees that you just slap it on break at every opportunity would show a lack of understanding for the tachocard functions thus leading the jury which I could be on to the conclusion of a lack of understanding for when and how to use the tachocard and would summiase a unprofessional half assed driver to put it politely. To say its use is if I am on per hour or salary and get paid on breaks deducted as you’ve mentioned is what it was created for is nonsense.

So what if it resets the drive time wrongly. Do a print out and add the drive hours/minutes in your head - on the phone calculator or on paper and get on with it.

You come across as someone on POA eagerly pacing the waiting room like an expectant father, anticipating that red light to change to green.
Not someone relaxing on break, flicking through YouTube, tictok or Netflix, or even with their head down on the bunk…enjoying themselves.