First off, Happy New Year. Stange question for you all. Imagine you are driving for a company based in Norwich (who only have that one depot). You have a day cab truck, and do a run which you can easily do in 4 hours driving time (total). However, on your last run there is an accident in front of you, and you run out of driving time. When the police open the road again, you are an 2 hours away from base. I know you can drive to somewhere and park up and just make a log, but what about sleeping. You are too far away to drive back to base, but you have a day cab.
I assume in this case you have to either wait for a company car to pick you up and take you back to base, or the company has to pay for a hotel.
Daft question I know, but I have seen a few day cab tractor units lately traveling quite some distance and was not sure what the law said if this was to happen.
If there’s an accident in front of you (so you have to STOP because you can’t get past) you won’t be running out of driving time any time soon…
If the issue is that you end up running out of duty time (i.e. you can’t fit in your 9/11 hour Rest within 24 hrs of starting your shift) then getting picked up in a company motor isn’t going to be an option, as the time running back to base in the car cannot be counted as Rest.
It’s your choice whether to rough it in the cab, seek local lodgings etc - But there is no legal requirement for the company to pay for this.
I dont understand “run out of driving time”.
If you are sat there on the motorway and the road is blocked for 4 hrs , you are not driving…
So put your taco to “other work Or available for work” and you wont run out of driving time…
If you have ( this is a bit backward) worked for 11 hrs so far that day ( im trying to be careful how I say this) then you still have at least 2 hrs OR 5 hrs to get home …
What time did you start the shift ? What time did you finish your last shift ? and what was the time the police opened the road leaving you 2 hrs to get back to depot …
Roymondo:
If the issue is that you end up running out of duty time (i.e. you can’t fit in your 9/11 hour Rest within 24 hrs of starting your shift) then getting picked up in a company motor isn’t going to be an option, as the time running back to base in the car cannot be counted as Rest.
Your right, but I think this is often considered the most logical solution if your relatively close to base. I’ve been picked up by the gaffer in his company car before after running out of hours, he drove the truck back and I took the car. One off, nobodies going to know. I got home to my own bed.