ROG:
The ACTUAL rules are exactly as said by geebee45 and coffeeholic - once a driver has had 45 mins of break then the 4.5 hours accumulated driving time limit is reset to zero.
BUT I was wondering why the VOSA handbook said something that the actual regulations did not say and I was curious.
There ya go ROG, it was a question of time until you fell into a trap of your own making…
You’ve very accurately described the problems, and seen the consequences, of what happens when somebody tries to ‘simplify’ Regulations when it’s usually easier to read them as they are written. 
ROG:
This is what I found in the DfT/VOSA guide - But I could not find the same in the current regs
From
HERE:
A driver ‘wipes the slate clean’ if he takes a 45-minute break (or qualifying breaks totalling 45 minutes) before or at the end of a 4.5-hour driving period. This means that the next 4.5-hour period begins with the completion of that qualifying break, and in assessing break requirements for the new 4.5-hour period, no reference is to be made to driving time accumulated before this point.
If that had not been there then the driving time of 4.5 hours would be on a constant ‘rolling’ accumulation and the driver would have to be very atsute so as not to get caught out -
REMEMBER this is NOT the current regs -
drive 2 hours - 15 min break - drive 2.5 hours - 30 min break - drive max 2 hours - now the last 2 driving periods have added up to 4.5 hours with a 30 min break so the driver must now have a 15 min break - drive max 2.5 hours - now the last 2 driving periods have added up to 4.5 hours with a 15 min break so the driver must now have a 30 min break - drive 1 hour (10 hour driving day done)
You can see that if this was done, and the actual regs as written seem to say this, then the driver would really have to be on-the-ball !!
The old Regs (3820/85) weren’t specific on exactly that subject, so a court case was needed as future guidance. When new Regs are drafted, the court rulings relevant to the old Regs are taken into account and written into the ‘new’ Regs, so that statute law actually develops over time.
ROG:
What the actual regs do not say is that a previous court ruling has added the bit that is only in the VOSA handbook - what do you think of that 
Answered above I hope. 
BTW, IMHO, the ‘new’ Regs don’t need further explanation about ‘rolling breaks’, if we read Article 7 correctly.
Article 7:
After a driving period of four and a half hours a driver shall take an uninterrupted break of not less than 45 minutes, unless he takes a rest period.
This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a break of at least 30 minutes each distributed over the period in such a way as to comply with the provisions of the first paragraph.
ROG, If you read the words, taking nothing out and putting nothing in, it’s fairly straightforward and there appears to be no question of your ‘rolling break’ idea.
Another example of the way in which statute law is said to develop over time might be the ‘Skills Motor Coaches’ case, where an issue was the interpretation of ‘duty time.’ Again, that case had to be brought under the ‘old’ Regs, because they weren’t clear on ‘duty time.’ That case went to court, then clarity was given. When the ‘new’ Regs were written, the court ruling in the ‘Skills’ case seems to have become Article 9(2) of the ‘new’ Regs about “any time spent travelling to a location to take charge of a vehicle falling within the scope of this Regulation…” etc.
geebee45: I’m not implying any criticism of the VOSA handbook (honest
), I’m sure it was written and published with the best of intentions. Mind you, upon reading it again, it does seem to be pretty clear that ROG might be looking a bit too deeply and seeing things that aren’t there just now and again, sometimes maybe. 
Now, will somebody PLEASE give ROG a job.
