I was having a break with a mate today, he need a 45 & I needed to take a 30 minute break. After we’d been sat chatting & enjoying our lunch for 32 minutes, a chap came & demanded we move because he needed to get his vehicle through & my mates vehicle was in the way.
As I’d had over my required 30 minutes, I left & carried on but my mate was concerned about distrubing his 45 minute break & although he’d only moved a few yards, to be sure, he took another 30 minutes. Surely it’s acceptable that sometimes a driver is going to be asked to move or have I got it wrong??
BB
Your mate did right but unless your parked in the middle of an airfield and this other guy wanting by is a knob why would your MATE park in front of something/somewhere/accessable area etc?
scottishcruiser:
Your mate did right but unless your parked in the middle of an airfield and this other guy wanting by is a knob why would your MATE park in front of something/somewhere/accessable area etc?
You’re not far wrong there, we’d just delivered to part of the job & only had a few minutes driving left & decided to find somewhere quiet to have our break. We were actually parked on a bit of waste ground hundreds of yards from the nearest working area on an old airfiled & sitting by what are actually redundant site cabins. My mate wasn’t parked in front of anything, the site haul road is close on a mile long but this donkey decided he wanted the spot we were on. The bloke was a foreman directing a driver delivering a fuel tank to what will be a new site & we were parked in just the spot he’d decided to put it. We’re convinced he was just being awkward but he was quite adamant we had to shift.
I’m surprised a lorry can’t shift a few yards during a break without having to have another break.
BB
I know I should know the answer to this but
What if you, having finished your break, moved your mates truck? You would obviously have to swap cards etc?
It has also crossed my mind that if you had a spare driver/shunter on a site who could tip load vehicles while you have a break, what would VOSA make of it?
renaultman:
I know I should know the answer to this but
What if you, having finished your break, moved your mates truck? You would obviously have to swap cards etc?
It has also crossed my mind that if you had a spare driver/shunter on a site who could tip load vehicles while you have a break, what would VOSA make of it?
Removing the card that’s on the break,and replacing it with another to move it is completely OK.
The truck is not on a break,the card is.
The card will stay on break whether inserted or not. As soon as the truck has finished its repositioning,the break card
can be reinserted and will still be on break until the truck is moved.
For complete VOSA happiness,a signed printout with the reason may be appropriate.
206doorman:
renaultman:
I know I should know the answer to this but
What if you, having finished your break, moved your mates truck? You would obviously have to swap cards etc?
It has also crossed my mind that if you had a spare driver/shunter on a site who could tip load vehicles while you have a break, what would VOSA make of it?
Removing the card that’s on the break,and replacing it with another to move it is completely OK.
The truck is not on a break,the card is.
The card will stay on break whether inserted or not. As soon as the truck has finished its repositioning,the break card
can be reinserted and will still be on break until the truck is moved.
For complete VOSA happiness,a signed printout with the reason may be appropriate.
With all due respect would I be correct in assuming that you’ve never used a driver card ?
I’m not sure about the legality of what you’re suggesting but certainly the tachograph would show that the card had been removed and a manual entry would need to be made to account for the time the card was out of the tachograph.
To suggest that the card would simply show an automatic continuation of the break is not correct 
As scottishcruiser said the right thing to do was to have another 30 minutes break.
tachograph:
206doorman:
renaultman:
I know I should know the answer to this but
What if you, having finished your break, moved your mates truck? You would obviously have to swap cards etc?
It has also crossed my mind that if you had a spare driver/shunter on a site who could tip load vehicles while you have a break, what would VOSA make of it?
Removing the card that’s on the break,and replacing it with another to move it is completely OK.
The truck is not on a break,the card is.
The card will stay on break whether inserted or not. As soon as the truck has finished its repositioning,the break card
can be reinserted and will still be on break until the truck is moved.
For complete VOSA happiness,a signed printout with the reason may be appropriate.
With all due respect would I be correct in assuming that you’ve never used a driver card ?
I’m not sure about the legality of what you’re suggesting but certainly the tachograph would show that the card had been removed and a manual entry would need to be made to account for the time the card was out of the tachograph.
To suggest that the card would simply show an automatic continuation of the break is not correct
As scottishcruiser said the right thing to do was to have another 30 minutes break.
I occasionally hop between vehicles during a working day. In and out goes my driver card,sometimes between 5 different trucks. I do not make any print-outs or manual entries. My card is recording it all. Who needs a [zb] pen?
The scenario above is NO different.
The card,when put on a break,STAYS on break whether in or out of a tach. The cards’ movement between tachs is recorded
on the card. The card WILL show continuous break.
The card will store any insertions or withdrawals at all times.
Showing due respect starts with reading my posts clearly, and not inventing words I didn’t say.
206doorman:
I occasionally hop between vehicles during a working day. In and out goes my driver card,sometimes between 5 different trucks. I do not make any print-outs or manual entries. My card is recording it all. Who needs a [zb] pen?
The scenario above is NO different.
The card,when put on a break,STAYS on break whether in or out of a tach. The cards’ movement between tachs is recorded
on the card. The card WILL show continuous break.
The card will store any insertions or withdrawals at all times.
Showing due respect starts with reading my posts clearly, and not inventing words I didn’t say.
Sorry mate but you’re wrong, tachograph is right.
Your card WILL NOT show anything for any time it is not inserted into a tacho unless you do a manual entry for it.
If you have, say, 30min break, 5min out of the head and then 10min break then unless when you put the card back in you do a manual entry to cover those 5 minutes then it will not show a continuous break, those 5 minutes will show on a printout with a question mark next to them.
I would say that taking another 30min is the best option in this scenario. It’s just not worth all that messing about for the sake of 15 minutes. Much easier to keep the card clean and not give VOSA anything to see if you get stopped, even if you are in the right.
Paul
renaultman:
It has also crossed my mind that if you had a spare driver/shunter on a site who could tip load vehicles while you have a break, what would VOSA make of it?
They would probably be very suspicious and I would guess they would make an odd surprise visit now and again to check the drivers who were putting their breaks as manual entries were really on break and not doing any work. Not a lot they can do though if you genuinely are on break as it’s perfectly legal.
Paul
Yes Paul,you’re right.
I see what Tachograph was getting at now.[Sorry mate]
If i’m driving several trucks during a working day,i’ll normally leave the card in a tach for my 45 rather than have it
out of a tach. [as you say,card not in a tach is cause for vosa to question]
And yes,taking another 30 was the correct action,as he’d broken his break.
Going back to the original question, if his mate had swopped cards to move the truck,that would have been legal,but
the card would have recorded an extraction/insertion [while still being on a break] so a print-out with explanation
would maintain vosa happiness.
Basilbrush:
Can I Disturb a 45 minute break
Simple question, simple answer.
Yes you can. If you have taken less than 15 minutes before the interruption then you start over. More than 15 minutes before the interruption and you take 30 minutes after it.
Am I correct in stating that with digi-tachs at least, you can drive (for no more than 5 seconds) without any driving being recorded? You could then do a series of very short shunts and presumably be out of the way in seconds. I also presume this to be illegal. Is it illegal but is it possible to do (not that I’m trying to or suggesting breaking the law)?
It is a break, which means not doing any Other Work or Driving. If you disturb a compulsory 15 or 30 minute period, you are going to either take another one, or get hauled before the TM or TC.
You can pull fuses, disconnect cables, attach magnets, remove cards, blame gas attacks or pirates, but you have still interrupted a legal break.
If that had have been me I would have either parked somewhere else or asked the foreman to give me 13 minutes, the other driver would have understood and could have had a 15 himself. I might even have offered them both a cup of tea and talked about football or summat.