Has anyone heard anything about us not supposed to be using the square any more and all driving to be done on x hammers only?.
With any POA recorded on paper but not tacho?.
Nope.
Last I heard was that you’re supposed to use the hammers for driving and other work, square for POA and the bed for break. That’s what I do anyway.
Paul
i thought it was the other way round, square is other work and cross hammers is poa. dont personally use poa as we get paid for breaks so its easier just to use break!
scottbrown:
i thought it was the other way round, square is other work and cross hammers is poa. dont personally use poa as we get paid for breaks so its easier just to use break!
See section 6.6 of this link.
Paul
In answer to all this; back in the early days of the EEC Regs (1985) Britain decided to take one of the opt outs that allowed drivers to record other work (crossed hammers) and period of availability (square box) under the one symbol; square box.
The introduction of the RTR (commonly called WTD) meant that guidance was issued saying that other work, eg; fuelling vehicle, loading / unloading, paperwork etc should be recorded under the ‘crossed hammers.’ Periods of availability (POA) were to be recorded under the ‘box’ symbol.
On 11th April this year EEC regulation 561/2006 was published. This mainly deals with the ‘new drivers hours,’ however, some parts of it came into force on 1st May 2006. One of these parts is that the old arrangement from 1985 is totally scrapped; work is now recorded under ‘crossed hammers’ and POA under the ‘box.’ Remember that according to the definitions, lying on the bunk or sitting in the passenger seat, whilst somebody else drives is classified as POA.
It really doesn’t matter what position a mode switch is set to whilst you are driving, providing the vehicle is fitted with an automatic tachograph. You must remember to use the mode switch correctly to record periods of activity. It’s probably good practise to leave the selected mode as ‘crossed hammers’ and select POA and rest as and when. This is basically what digital tachos do.