Hi, don’t know whether anyone can clarify, but is it upto the driver whether or not to reduce to 9 hours off between shift, or is it just upto the company who they work for?
Thanks
Vicki 
driver.
never reduce at home you have a life live it
tell us some more.
are you new to the job? are they trying it on? who do you work for?
I’m writing on behalf of my hubby. It is his first job as a hgv driver, and has been there around 7 months.
End of the day they are just in it to make money, but we live 45 mins away from where he works, so by the time he has reduced to 9 he actually gets about 5 of those in bed. He doesn’t mind the hours, it’s just the odd occasion when he is totally knackered where he just wants to say no. They also go from one extreme to another with his start times, for example he started 3am monday morning, and then 8am today. I thought that the whole idea of reducing to 9 unless you have worked more than 13, is so that your start times aren’t miles apart, not to benefit the company!
It really depends what his contract of employment says. I’m taking bets from anyone he doesn’t have one in spite of it being a legal requirement.
It ought to be up to the driver but some Companies may “convince” the driver differently.
I would just remind them that on Health and Safety grounds you dont’ feel it is safe to reduce the daily rest on this occasion as you feel you won’t have sufficient rest in order to drive safely.
There is a reason why the reduction of daily rests is limited per week.
Legally, under the tacho regulations neither the driver or the company has precedence. The company can schedule the work so it requires a reduced daily rest and if the driver refused purely on tacho rules then he would be in the wrong. H&S is another matter entirely and by claiming tiredness no company in their right mind would send the driver out. However, while that is reasonable now and again it could backfire. If the driver regularly refused on grounds of tiredness then there is a good chance the company could eventually claim he wasn’t suitable for the job and get rid of him. While the driver has short term power, in the long run the company hold all the aces.
If you end up having a reduced then you have a reduced and it’s your own tough luck at our place, however, on the odd occasion I’ve been shattered and said I was too tired to take 9 off my start time has been changed for me.
Yes he does have a contract of employment, but doesn’t say anything about reducing rest. The company he works for are really bad, they run their drivers to the limit every week, but we just wanted to see whether there were any legal grounds you could refuse on when you are really shattered.
Also do any of you find your start times miles apart, because my understanding was that they should be within two hours of the same time every day?
what sort of company does he work for?
In his contract of employmentvwill refer to within tacho regs as long as he’s not breaching tacho regs you haven’t a leg to standon and there’s nothing you can do about it spray from get another job.
Most drivers work to there limits every day of the week this has to bedone for the tricks to make a profit . This how this industry works for most drivers and they are knackered at the end of the week
unfortunatly it’s just life or one option could be to get a job away fr here or work for asda or tesco
The company is legally entitled to ask the driver to reduce his rest to 9 hours 3 times per week. The only card you can play is if you were to say you are knackered and need more rest. If there are enough drivers at the firm to allow flexibility this shouldn’t be a problem & usually this can be resolved with reasonable negotiation.
If the work dictated that the driver needed to take 3 reduced rests per week then I as an employer would expect the driver to do this. The company does have an obligation however to plan the work in such a manner that the driver does not break any tacho rules so if the workload was regularly causing a problem and they were investigated, this would count against the firm.
Bottom line is as long as the driver isn’t asked to break any tacho rules, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
It’s a big frozen food distribution firm.
The contract he has got isn’t really worth the paper it’s written on, it’s only one side of a4 long! Yeah he’s not bothered about the hours, just the times when he is really tired that he wants a bit of a longer period between shifts.
He’s tried getting on at asda, as his mate works for them and he spoke to transport manager, but at the moment in the area we are they aren’t taking on, due to them bringing in double deck trailers, therefore hoping they can cut the number of runs they need to do.
The company have often run him out of time, eventhough he has told them that it’s not possible to do the run, but they literally force him to do it, and he has had to go over his time by 15/20 mins before. They couldn’t care less about drivers, which is understandable because all they want is a profit, and drivers are so easy to replace.
v60■■■:
to do it, and he has had to go over his time by 15/20 mins before. .
how many times does he have to do that? alarm bells are ringing or should be ringing if what your generally saying about this company is true as if he gets pulled for routine its him that cops it not the employer, if he has to do it often he should ask him self is it worth risking his licence for that job??
He’s only ever done it 2/3 times in about 7 month, but you’re right it isn’t worth loosing his license over!
Hi v60■■■,
The sad fact is, that a driver in this situation is unlikely to be able to improve it except by finding another job. If he starts making waves then it is quite possible (even likely) that they will find some excuse to fire him; and if that happens it will make it much harder for him to find a job with a decent employer. Believe it or not there are quite a lot of them about.
My best suggestion is for him to keep his head down, trying hard to stay legal of course, and start looking hard for a better job.
Yeah i know, he is trying to find a job, and he never says anything to them, he just gets on with it because he needs the experience, and they were the only company to take him on when he first passed his test.
Will have to see how it goes, there is a company nearer to us that are taking on, and are sending out an application form for him, so fingers crossed he will get a better job eventually, but until then he will have to make do!
v60■■■:
over his time by 15/20 mins
v60■■■:
He’s only ever done it 2/3 times in about 7 month, but you’re right it isn’t worth loosing his license over!
That is too much - VOSA/police will allow a RARE occasion but once every other month on average is not rare IMO
Unfortunately nearly every driver on Truck Net has been in the same situation ,but sometimes you have to say enough is enough and say something or leave.
Its a sad fact we have all seen the devastation of a driver falling asleep, dont let your hubby do the same, if he has an accident however minor its going to go against him when trying for other jobs, so if he is tired dont carry on driving get some rest ,its a lot better than putting a truck on its side in a ditch
Companies do want good drivers and if he stays legal and accident free somebody will set him on. Good Luck.