Hi,
I am unsure on the rules for driving/working hours…
I have read various articles and books which explain 4.5hrs + 45mins rest + 4.5hrs and i have read about the rest time incase you get stuck at warehouses whilst you are loaded/Unloaded.
What i am unsure about is working as a seperate job to driving.
So, if i work for 8 hours in a seperate work place, then want to drive for a few hours, can this happen. ( I know driving would not be a good idea after working 8 hours, its just for the example)
Or, if i drove for 4.5hrs then worked away from wagon, for 4 hours, could i then drive for 4.5hrs ■■?
My main concern is that once i pass my tests, i will be working at a garage,(40-50hrs) but at weekends i want to drive a wagon as extra income and for experience for 12 months before applying for a full time class 1 driving job.
its simple to work out the driving rules if i want to just drive class 1 or 2 full time, its just a bit confusing if its a sideline job until i get my experience and confidence to apply for a full time driving job.
As usual, any help or advice would be fantastic.
Thanks Richard.
If you worked 8 hours in another job then this would count as “other work” when calculating your driving allowance, so although you could drive a truck after your other job, you could only do a maximum of seven hours of duty time (regardless of time spent driving) in order that you did a maximum 15 hour day, which is required in order to satisfy the requirement that you have had 9 hours off in the previous 24 hours.
You could work at weekends, provided you had the statutory time away from all work, generally 45 hours. So if you started at the garage at 0800 on Monday, you could work until 1100 on the previous Saturday morning driving a truck, provided that after finishing at the garage on Friday afternoon you had at least 9 hours off before getting behind the wheel of a truck. This can be reduced to 24 hours, but in general only once every second week, and the reduced time has to be paid back before the end of the third week.
In your position, some people might be tempted to take their chances, and if stopped by VOSA when driving at the weekend, simply lie about their hours spent working at the garage, for example by pretending that they had not worked on the Friday at all, although I am sure nobody here would recommend taking such a course of action. 
As a rule of thumb, if you keep your day job you will legally be able to drive one day every second weekend.
It would be a little silly in fairness to think you will get work on a weekend. As a new driver with no experience you should be willing to take what you get and this is generally not much at all.
You may score and land a weekend driving job but the likelihood of it happening is probably very slim as I’m sure some will back me up.
If I were you, I would continue with your present job and look for a full time job to switch to. Explain to your new employer that you’re currently working so the job offer would need to be solid and not fall through.
Good luck in your endeavours.
Sam Millar:
It would be a little silly in fairness to think you will get work on a weekend. As a new driver with no experience you should be willing to take what you get and this is generally not much at all.
You may score and land a weekend driving job but the likelihood of it happening is probably very slim as I’m sure some will back me up.
If I were you, I would continue with your present job and look for a full time job to switch to. Explain to your new employer that you’re currently working so the job offer would need to be solid and not fall through.
Good luck in your endeavours.
If I were you I would ignore young Sam until he starts speaking from experience! There is a considerable amount of weekend work available so finding a days’ work every other Saturday shouldn’t be a major problem. A lot depends on what work is available within reasonable travelling distance.
Thanks for all the comments.
Cheers.