skids:
Well bugger my old boots I never knew that!
Nor me. I have been away on roadshows around Europe for as long as 13 weeks before, and even though I would only drive for one or two days a week, and would often have three days a week off in a row, it would seem that I was breaking the Law.
Presumably, the likes of TransAm StageTruck etc are also falling foul of this?
This has only been in the regulations since the last change in April 2007 when they did away with the location based weekly rest reductions.
Coffeeholic:
This has only been in the regulations since the last change in April 2007 when they did away with the location based weekly rest reductions.
But presumably, if I did a roadshow again, I would either have to return to the UK base every three weeks, or spend every third weekend in a hotel- I presume that would be sufficient to comply with the Law?
Unfortunately, I get the idea that this is yet another law that I am just going to have to ignore
You need 45 every 2nd week now, two 24hrs then a long weekend are no longer allowed, so if what is said is right you need to be home every 2nd weekend, dont see that happening…
LRM:
You need 45 every 2nd week now, two 24hrs then a long weekend are no longer allowed, so if what is said is right you need to be home every 2nd weekend, dont see that happening…
You don’t need to be home, you would just have to have the full weekly rests not in the cab.
Also you can still do two, or more, reduced in a row as long as any two weeks have at least one full rest attached to it.
The people who would most fall foul of this law would be the Bulgarians and Romanians who spend months on end in Western Europe, but somehow I can’t see the enforcement authorities targeting them…
toby1234abc:
That may explain why the Taliban drivers HIDE at the weekend,with curtains drawn all over the weekend,so when they do a spot check,the cab doors are locked,and the driver will lay on the bunk untill the old bill leave,as like you said,they should be in a hotel that the boss must pay for,
that is the biggest load of bulls excrement that I have read in a long time, nowhere in the legislations does it say that a 45 hour break cannot be taken in the vehicle
Coffeeholic:
Article 8 (8) defines the type of rest which can be taken in a vehicle and a full weekly rest isn’t one of them.
and neither does it say it cannot
It does. By defining the type of rest which can be taken it means any rest not mentioned cannot. Full weekly rest away from base is not mentioned and reduced rest is restricted to while away from base therefore neither a full weekly rest or a reduced at base can be taken in the cab if you stick strictly to the legislation.
If it said,
Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and weekly rest periods may be taken in a vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each driver and the vehicle is stationary.
Then all rest periods could be taken in the cab regardless of location but it makes a point of defining things further and limiting reduced weekly rest periods away from base to reduced and at base to full.
Vascoingles:
that is the biggest load of bulls excrement that I have read in a long time, nowhere in the legislations does it say that a 45 hour break cannot be taken in the vehicle
Hmm, well if it says…
Article 8
Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and
reduced weekly rest periods away from base may be taken in a
vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each
driver and the vehicle is stationary.
then by implication, non-reduced weekly rest periods cannot be taken in a vehicle.
Coffeeholic:
It does. By defining the type of rest which can be taken it means any rest not mentioned cannot. Full weekly rest away from base is not mentioned and reduced rest is restricted to while away from base therefore neither a full weekly rest or a reduced at base can be taken in the cab if you stick strictly to the legislation.
If this were the case then 85% of transport companies are breaking the law with the collusion of the police then, having checked out the Dutch and German versions of the same article there is nothing wrong with taking a 45 hour break in the vehicle.
Is this another case of the British translation/interpretation being taken too far ?
Coffeeholic:
It does. By defining the type of rest which can be taken it means any rest not mentioned cannot. Full weekly rest away from base is not mentioned and reduced rest is restricted to while away from base therefore neither a full weekly rest or a reduced at base can be taken in the cab if you stick strictly to the legislation.
If this were the case then 85% of transport companies are breaking the law with the collusion of the police then, having checked out the Dutch and German versions of the same article there is nothing wrong with taking a 45 hour break in the vehicle.
Is this another case of the British translation/interpretation being taken too far ?
It is one of those regulations or part of them which so far have been ignored by the authorities, at home and abroad.
In each of the following quotes there is no mention of a FULL weekly rest!
DE
(8) Sofern sich ein Fahrer hierfür entscheidet, können nicht
am Standort eingelegte tägliche Ruhezeiten und reduzierte
wöchentliche Ruhezeiten im Fahrzeug verbracht werden,
sofern das Fahrzeug über geeignete Schlafmöglichkeiten für
jeden Fahrer verfügt und nicht fährt.
Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and
reduced weekly rest periods away from base may be taken in a
vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each
driver and the vehicle is stationary.
Just from a linguistic viewpoint, I’ve had a look at the German version of what’s being discussed:
(8) Sofern sich ein Fahrer hierfür entscheidet, können nicht am Standort eingelegte tägliche Ruhezeiten und reduzierte wöchentliche Ruhezeiten im Fahrzeug verbracht werden, sofern das Fahrzeug über geeignete Schlafmöglichkeiten für jeden Fahrer verfügt und nicht fährt.
The part I’ve made red is IMHO equally as clearly written as the English version.
This is missing:
regelmäßige wöchentliche Ruhezeit
Whilst this is mentioned:
reduzierte wöchentliche Ruhezeit
What swings this for me is the fact that the German word reduziert is specifically included. IMHO, from a linguistic point of view, leaving out that word would mean that both types of weekly rest would be allowed in exactly the same way as leaving out the word “reduced” would in the English version.
In all good conscience, I cannot honestly infer from the German or English versions that a driver can take a regular weekly rest in a vehicle.
Which parts the authorities choose to enforce is another discussion altogether!!
J.C. look folks where are you supposed to take it then when you are in the middle of no where in a bloody tent of course you Take your weekend breaks or 45 hrs plus off when not at home base in your Lorry unless your boss is wishing to pay for board and lodgings else where , which is a unlikely event unless you work by certain firms
Actually Pete, you have a point there- you could in theory carry a small tent in the cab and tell the enforcement authorities that whenever you are weekended, you set it up next to the truck and slept in it.
They don’t seem to be enforcing this rule at the mo, but if they ever did, it would seem to be an option which would comply with the law.
Otherwise there would be a specific mention that a full weekly rest may not be taken in the truck. These faceless bods are not partial to things being inferred, they want their regulations to be watertight, but this one has slipped through the net.
That the original, in whatever language it was drafted, was then literally translated into all the other languages, only compounds the mistake.
Although the “Where a driver chooses to do this (WTF )” appears to have been translated differently in Italian…
In reply to Daves post I have edited my post to show the word REDUCED in blue.
Why would the members of the EU agree to have that blue word written in, rather than writing it thus:
Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and
weekly rest periods away from base may be taken in a
vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each
driver and the vehicle is stationary.
Notice the word REDUCED is now missing and it doesn’t detract anything, but someone somewhere has written reduced into the regulation and had that regulation translated into every language of the union.
Which parts the authorities choose to enforce is another discussion altogether!! 
