I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?
Is this legal?
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
It is an offence to stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency so your answer is no.
m1cks:
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
It is an offence to stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency so your answer is no.
Thats exactly what I figured. So how come some drivers still stop to take there breaks, in extreme traffic are you not able to wait until it is safe to stop to take a break?
Sorry but I am studying for my Class C so this is all new to me.
danalex84:
m1cks:
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
It is an offence to stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency so your answer is no.
Thats exactly what I figured. So how come some drivers still stop to take there breaks, in extreme traffic are you not able to wait until it is safe to stop to take a break?
Sorry but I am studying for my Class C so this is all new to me.
Some drivers take the chance that they won’t get stopped.
Other drivers who go to Europe would rather chance a £100 fine here and keep a clean tacho card because the fines for exceeding hours in some euro countries are much much more than that.
It is something the police are cracking down on however.
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
No it isn’t. What you are supposed to do is continue the journey until the first safe place to stop - not the place you would like to get to - , do a printout and note down the reason why you’ve deviated from the EU drivers hours regs or if using an analogue tacho write on the card the reason why at the end of the shift.
Tacho offences in Europe can be up to 10,000 Euros court deposit.
It must be paid on the road side.At a later date, the fine can be contested and you may get the money back.
Not many challenge it and go to court.
The language barrier ,time off work ,traveling there and the fisk of not winning are the reasons nobody bothers.
More serious tacho offences can be more ,20,000 or 30,000 Euros.Or the truck put in a compound.Or jail for the driver.
The Basque area of Spain is where they like telephone number sized wads of cash.
m1cks:
danalex84:
m1cks:
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
It is an offence to stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency so your answer is no.
Thats exactly what I figured. So how come some drivers still stop to take there breaks, in extreme traffic are you not able to wait until it is safe to stop to take a break?
Sorry but I am studying for my Class C so this is all new to me.Some drivers take the chance that they won’t get stopped.
Other drivers who go to Europe would rather chance a £100 fine here and keep a clean tacho card because the fines for exceeding hours in some euro countries are much much more than that.
It is something the police are cracking down on however.
But of course now with us working with DVSA ooop north and many other regions working along side DVSA reporting drivers for such tomfoolery with the bosses being made aware of what their drivers are up to, they WILL get caught and if one driver not stopping that prevents someone hitting them then itll all be worth it.
I always wondered with so mnay car drivers moaning about middle lane hoggers yet there still being middle lane hoggers, who is actually doing it? The same applies to trucks, so many drivers complain about it with so many ignoring signs, stopping illegally and pulling unsecured loads, who is actually doing it as there can’t be anyone left.
Well - of course, 90% of drivers are above average, and that rises to 99% for the drivers who come on Trucknet.
toby1234abc:
I was coming up to 4.15 driving time and planned to come off the M11 near Cambridge.
Then the slip road was stationary.
It is now 4.30 hours driving.
A 45 minute break is due.I pulled over on the slip road.
There was room for lorries to pass me.
Hato turns up and are sending a tow truck assuming i have broken down as cctv monitoring the roads.
It was now 43 minutes break.
They ordered me to move even though i only needed a few more minutes.
My fault for not stopping before they said and they have sent for the Police.
I said i was not sure of the area.
If i fell asleep later ,who is at fault then ?
Should have i waited for the old bill tp sign the printout ?
I’ll go now mate, just waiting for the air to build to an acceptable level, steering feels a bit light, ill just have a mooch under to check it. Dont tell them you’re on break, it’s illegal to stop on the hard shoulder anyway unless an emergency so you ain’t got a leg to stand on, you’re supposed to carry on to the first safe place & do a printout straight away to explain why you went over, most will accept that.
Some are alright but some are failed coppers with a Hitler chip on their shoulder.
m1cks:
danalex84:
m1cks:
danalex84:
I have often wondered what the legal standpoint is when I have been stuck in a bad traffic jam on a motorway and see drivers pulling over or stopped on the hard shoulder to take a break?Is this legal?
It is an offence to stop on the hard shoulder except in an emergency so your answer is no.
Thats exactly what I figured. So how come some drivers still stop to take there breaks, in extreme traffic are you not able to wait until it is safe to stop to take a break?
Sorry but I am studying for my Class C so this is all new to me.Some drivers take the chance that they won’t get stopped.
Other drivers who go to Europe would rather chance a £100 fine here and keep a clean tacho card because the fines for exceeding hours in some euro countries are much much more than that.
It is something the police are cracking down on however.
This.
The point that seems to have annoyed Toby most is that he only had a couple of mins left to complete his break. However he was still in the wrong to park & take the break where he did
Silver_Surfer:
toby1234abc:
I was coming up to 4.15 driving time and planned to come off the M11 near Cambridge.
Then the slip road was stationary.
It is now 4.30 hours driving.
A 45 minute break is due.I pulled over on the slip road.
There was room for lorries to pass me.
Hato turns up and are sending a tow truck assuming i have broken down as cctv monitoring the roads.
It was now 43 minutes break.
They ordered me to move even though i only needed a few more minutes.
My fault for not stopping before they said and they have sent for the Police.
I said i was not sure of the area.
If i fell asleep later ,who is at fault then ?
Should have i waited for the old bill tp sign the printout ?I’ll go now mate, just waiting for the air to build to an acceptable level, steering feels a bit light, ill just have a mooch under to check it. Dont tell them you’re on break, it’s illegal to stop on the hard shoulder anyway unless an emergency so you ain’t got a leg to stand on, you’re supposed to carry on to the first safe place & do a printout straight away to explain why you went over, most will accept that.
Some are alright but some are failed coppers with a Hitler chip on their shoulder.
All ok until these ha lot with the power to delay you turn up and call vosa to have a look at your steering and find some thing else you didn’t know about !
toby1234abc:
Thanks for the replies.When exiting the M11, driving time was about 4.15.
It took 15 minutes to get off the M11with the long queue and the tacho adding two minutes everytime i moved a few feet.
The traffic was exiting using the hard shoulder.
get a duo 2 tacho it doesnt + 2 minutes 
toby1234abc:
I was coming up to 4.15 driving time and planned to come off the M11 near Cambridge.
Then the slip road was stationary.
It is now 4.30 hours driving.
A 45 minute break is due.I pulled over on the slip road.
There was room for lorries to pass me.
Hato turns up and are sending a tow truck assuming i have broken down as cctv monitoring the roads.
It was now 43 minutes break.
They ordered me to move even though i only needed a few more minutes.
My fault for not stopping before they said and they have sent for the Police.
I said i was not sure of the area.
If i fell asleep later ,who is at fault then ?
Should have i waited for the old bill tp sign the printout ?
I’d have told them to ■■■■ off and let them crack on. It’s all a load of bull ■■■■ and they haven’t done any of that stuff. The police won’t even care for starters and you’ve got a hard enough job getting them to put down their doughnuts even for a serious crime happening so there’s zero chance of them coming out for a truck stopped on a slip road 
. It’s just typical HA power-freak scaremongering trying to get you to do what they want. Tell them to ■■■■ off, they’re a complete waste of space.
Barely worth commenting on, it’s all jackanory, anybody with half a brain would have carried on and found somewhere to park legally, even if you did stop on the hard shoulder you could have easily winged it for a couple of minutes to keep hato happy, and as for them calling a wrecker because they’ve ‘assumed’ you’re broken down! You couldn’t make this ■■■■ up, oh wait, you just did!!
Left hand down!:
toby1234abc:
There was room for lorries to pass me.
Hato turns up and are sending a tow truck assuming i have broken down as cctv monitoring the roads.
They ordered me to move even though i only needed a few more minutes.
My fault for not stopping before they said and they have sent for the Police.
Should have i waited for the old bill tp sign the printout ?I’d have told them to [zb] off and let them crack on. It’s all a load of bull [zb] and they haven’t done any of that stuff. The police won’t even care for starters and you’ve got a hard enough job getting them to put down their doughnuts even for a serious crime happening so there’s zero chance of them coming out for a truck stopped on a slip road
I had to laugh when some knoby Truckdriver did that once after the usual foul mouth tirade at a colleague( An excopper of over 30 years, 18 in Accident Investigation until he retired).
Copper rocked up a couple of minutes later and booked him , You take your chances i suppose.
speedyguy:
Left hand down!:
toby1234abc:
There was room for lorries to pass me.
Hato turns up and are sending a tow truck assuming i have broken down as cctv monitoring the roads.
They ordered me to move even though i only needed a few more minutes.
My fault for not stopping before they said and they have sent for the Police.
Should have i waited for the old bill tp sign the printout ?I’d have told them to [zb] off and let them crack on. It’s all a load of bull [zb] and they haven’t done any of that stuff. The police won’t even care for starters and you’ve got a hard enough job getting them to put down their doughnuts even for a serious crime happening so there’s zero chance of them coming out for a truck stopped on a slip road
I had to laugh when some knoby Truckdriver did that once after the usual foul mouth tirade at a colleague( An excopper of over 30 years, 18 in Accident Investigation until he retired).
Copper rocked up a couple of minutes later and booked him
Yes, yes, of course he did…
In Toby’s case he’d have been gone by the point anyway so you’d have ended up looking like a right ■■■■■ Mind you, there wouldn’t be any noticeable difference from the norm there.
Not a made up story.43 minutes break and told to move on.As i left the scene is saw the Police coming southbound.
So which is worse ?
The fact that youve been parked there for the last 43 minutes on a tacho break on the hard shoulder with 2/3 mins left to do ?
or ,
The fact you stopped there in the 1st place ?
just wondering
Left hand down!:
Yes, yes, of course he did…In Toby’s case he’d have been gone by the point anyway so you’d have ended up looking like a right [zb]. Mind you, there wouldn’t be any noticeable difference from the norm there.
Except we still have your reg and will pass it to DVSA to pay a visit to your offices, go over all your Tacho records including the one at that moment that showed your tacho was on rest thus giving you a nice ticket anyway, best just not to stop on the shoulder but what would be the fun in that if you can’t cause an issue between the HA and you just for fun. Weird the things people do to get off.