ec.europa.eu/transport/road/soci … e_6_en.pdf
Couchette translates literally to small bed.
Normal usage of the word is on a passenger train where the seats convert into a cot or bunk.
noun.
an inexpensive berth on a European train, consisting of a shelflike bed that folds down to allow passengers to sleep in their clothes: there are usually four couchettes in a first-class compartment and six in a second-class compartment.
I think it would probably take a Judge to decide what is acceptable.
BuzzardBoy:
Coffeeholic:
richknape:
if you go DFDS dover - dunkerque evevn though it’s only a short crossing, in the drivers’ area there is a room with 8 couchettes in it so you can use the new double split break legallyThose aren’t couchettes. They are little more than a fancy sun lounger like the ones on the Spirit of Britain. A couchette is a bunk, the kind of thing you get on sleeper trains.
So if they’re not couchettes, I’m breaking the law split breaking on Dover/Dumpkerque?
Yep.
Just a slightly different question on Ferry/Train breaks…
If you take a break on a short crossing like Puttgarden/Rodby or the Chunnel is a driver still required to make a manual entry on a digi tacho?
If you do, how do you do it? I know there is a ferry icon on the tacho do you just select it and leave at that?
Please excuse my baffled confusement on this one folks…
W
AlexWignall:
Just a slightly different question on Ferry/Train breaks…If you take a break on a short crossing like Puttgarden/Rodby or the Chunnel is a driver still required to make a manual entry on a digi tacho?
If you do, how do you do it? I know there is a ferry icon on the tacho do you just select it and leave at that?
Please excuse my baffled confusement on this one folks…
W
Just put it on break and pop up for a pot of coffee, no need to use ferry symbol
Wheel Nut:
AlexWignall:
Just a slightly different question on Ferry/Train breaks…If you take a break on a short crossing like Puttgarden/Rodby or the Chunnel is a driver still required to make a manual entry on a digi tacho?
If you do, how do you do it? I know there is a ferry icon on the tacho do you just select it and leave at that?
Please excuse my baffled confusement on this one folks…
W
Just put it on break and pop up for a pot of coffee, no need to use ferry symbol
This^. The ferry option, note it is NOT a mode, is nothing more than the digital equivalent of the chewed Biro you use to write the reason for interrupting your daily rest on the back of a chart. If you are not interrupting your daily rest to board or disembark then leave the [zb]ing thing alone.
Thankyou.
Thanks Wheel Nut and Coffee. I did reach that conclusion by default ie I didn’t know how to work it so I left it alone. So thanks again for putting me right.
In my opinion, I think the newer rules that allow two interruptions on longer crossings is a bit more driver friendly.
W
Don’t know if it helps much as Neil would often scupper my “i thought i was legal” plans but i used to do this.
Go through ticket point and when i landed in my lane in Dover or Calais i would start my break there. One movement would be getting onto the ferry. The other would be getting off the ferry and either running up to one hour or to the Total and wedge my way on there for a kip. On the return i would start my break in the queue at Calais then have one movement getting onto the ferry, the other getting off at Dover and running up to Snodland if i could make it that far within the hour. On most cases UKBA would stop me and scupper my plans of one movement.
Spacemonkeypg:
Don’t know if it helps much as Neil would often scupper my “i thought i was legal” plans but i used to do this.Go through ticket point and when i landed in my lane in Dover or Calais i would start my break there. One movement would be getting onto the ferry. The other would be getting off the ferry and either running up to one hour or to the Total and wedge my way on there for a kip. On the return i would start my break in the queue at Calais then have one movement getting onto the ferry, the other getting off at Dover and running up to Snodland if i could make it that far within the hour. On most cases UKBA would stop me and scupper my plans of one movement.
Thing is though it’s not about movement. It’s just an hours interruption in total. So as long as your within the hour your fine. I just stick it on other work if I’m stopped for a check.
Spacemonkeypg:
Don’t know if it helps much as Neil would often scupper my “i thought i was legal” plans but i used to do this.Go through ticket point and when i landed in my lane in Dover or Calais i would start my break there. One movement would be getting onto the ferry. The other would be getting off the ferry and either running up to one hour or to the Total and wedge my way on there for a kip. On the return i would start my break in the queue at Calais then have one movement getting onto the ferry, the other getting off at Dover and running up to Snodland if i could make it that far within the hour. On most cases UKBA would stop me and scupper my plans of one movement.
The movement isn’t the issue, as Luke says it is interruption not movement, so you can interrupt your rest and during that interruption move as many times as you like. The problem is you cannot legally use it on the Dover Calais route as you do not have access to a bunk or couchette for all parts of the rest. The French and Belgian police know this and when they nick someone it leads to tales of - “The French/Belgians don’t recognise ferry movements/interrupted rest and they fined me copious amounts of cash.” They do indeed ‘recognise it’ but even more importantly, they do recognise when it hasn’t been used properly and separate you from some of your hard earned Euro’s.
Thankyou.
See Told you
Spacemonkeypg:
Thankyou.
If there is no access to a bunk or a couchette,how would the copper know what ship you had come off from,you could say it did have a bed on it,there is no law to show them your ferry ticket to prove what ship you used,and a copper making enquiries at the road side to check if that vessel had a bed on it.Lets say you were stopped in Malaga,how would the Andulucian traffic cops know if there was a bed or not on ship,or an Italian copper.
toby1234abc:
If there is no access to a bunk or a couchette,how would the copper know what ship you had come off from,you could say it did have a bed on it,there is no law to show them your ferry ticket to prove what ship you used,and a copper making enquiries at the road side to check if that vessel had a bed on it.Lets say you were stopped in Malaga,how would the Andulucian traffic cops know if there was a bed or not on ship,or an Italian copper.
They wouldn’t but VOSA may, unless of course you are on of these strange people who keep the ferry tickets and lane number paper in the window for weeks 
I have seen old ferry tickets in cabs,when i asked them,they said it was proof that they had been on a ferry,and rest was broken.Some drivers have said the Gendarmes wanted proof of a ferry crossing. 
toby1234abc:
If there is no access to a bunk or a couchette,how would the copper know what ship you had come off from,you could say it did have a bed on it,there is no law to show them your ferry ticket to prove what ship you used,and a copper making enquiries at the road side to check if that vessel had a bed on it.Lets say you were stopped in Malaga,how would the Andulucian traffic cops know if there was a bed or not on ship,or an Italian copper.
The length of your break on the Ferry would certainly give a clue as to your crossing…
Wheel Nut:
toby1234abc:
If there is no access to a bunk or a couchette,how would the copper know what ship you had come off from,you could say it did have a bed on it,there is no law to show them your ferry ticket to prove what ship you used,and a copper making enquiries at the road side to check if that vessel had a bed on it.Lets say you were stopped in Malaga,how would the Andulucian traffic cops know if there was a bed or not on ship,or an Italian copper.They wouldn’t but VOSA may, unless of course you are on of these strange people who keep the ferry tickets and lane number paper in the window for weeks
Yes, if VOSA pull you on the M20, they will take a dim view of taking an interrupted rest on the P&O.
toby1234abc:
If there is no access to a bunk or a couchette,how would the copper know what ship you had come off from,you could say it did have a bed on it,there is no law to show them your ferry ticket to prove what ship you used,and a copper making enquiries at the road side to check if that vessel had a bed on it.Lets say you were stopped in Malaga,how would the Andulucian traffic cops know if there was a bed or not on ship,or an Italian copper.
They aren’t the problem, it the cops from North East France and West Flanders, that do know this stuff, you would have to worry about.
Coffeeholic:
They aren’t the problem, it the cops from North East France and West Flanders, that do know this stuff, you would have to worry about.
As well as the ones from north-west France. 
Harry Monk:
Coffeeholic:
They aren’t the problem, it the cops from North East France and West Flanders, that do know this stuff, you would have to worry about.As well as the ones from north-west France.
They do know about it
Harry Monk:
Coffeeholic:
They aren’t the problem, it the cops from North East France and West Flanders, that do know this stuff, you would have to worry about.As well as the ones from north-west France.
But on those crossings you tend to have access to a cabin, and bunk, during the crossing so you can use the interrupted rest option that you can’t use on the short sea crossings at the eastern end of the Channel.
You would only have to worry about the cops from north west France if you have [zb]ed up and done more than 12- 12.5 hours duty time before getting to the port and starting your daily rest.