Just would like to double check I’m sticking to the right side of the law
Week 1 - full 45+ weekly rest
Week 2 (last week) - 42h weekly rest
Week 3 (this week) - will be having 14 hours off tonight as I have a late tip!
Will be working Saturday morning hopefully so I do still need to have a 45 weekly rest this weekend even though I’ve made up the 3 hours from last weekend !
Yes I do, I think
Cheers
You cannot split a full weekly rest period. It must be a consecutive 45hrs.
Tartan11:
Just would like to double check I’m sticking to the right side of the lawWeek 1 - full 45+ weekly rest
Week 2 (last week) - 42h weekly rest
Week 3 (this week) - will be having 14 hours off tonight as I have a late tip!Will be working Saturday morning hopefully so I do still need to have a 45 weekly rest this weekend even though I’ve made up the 3 hours from last weekend !
Yes I do, I thinkCheers
Yes I do think so as well = 45 needed this week unless you can give a lot more info
Paying back hours does not make a reduced weekly rest into a regular one
Yeah cheers
I’ll just need to have a late start on Monday, but because I’ll have paid back last weeks hours, I’ll be ok to work the following Saturday and have a reduced weekly rest
Thanks boys
Separate post for this as you might be able to do two reduced weekly rest weekends as a ONE OFF
If all your usual weekly rests include sunday midnight and you post what days you had off over xmas and new year then you might be legal to have a reduced this weekend … up to you if you wish to explore this possibility
Tartan11:
Yeah cheers
I’ll just need to have a late start on Monday, but because I’ll have paid back last weeks hours, I’ll be ok to work the following Saturday and have a reduced weekly rest
Thanks boys
You will be able to have another reduced weekly rest period regardless of whether or not the previous reduced weekly rest period has been compensated for.
Compensation has to be paid back by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest was taken, as long as that criteria is complied with you can have reduced weekly rest periods before the last one was compensated for.
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.
Week in, week out be legal?
Tartan11:
Just would like to double check I’m sticking to the right side of the lawWeek 1 - full 45+ weekly rest
Week 2 (last week) - 42h weekly rest
Week 3 (this week) - will be having 14 hours off tonight as I have a late tip!Will be working Saturday morning hopefully so I do still need to have a 45 weekly rest this weekend even though I’ve made up the 3 hours from last weekend !
Yes I do, I thinkCheers
From the horse’s mouth (i.e. VOSA) :-
A driver can take a reduced weekly rest period of a minimum of 24 consecutive hours. If a reduction is taken, it must be compensated for by an equivalent period of rest taken in one block before the end of the third week following the week in question. The compensating rest must be attached to a period of rest of at least 9 hours — in effect either a weekly or a daily rest period.
For example, where a driver reduces a weekly rest period to 33 hours in week 1, he must compensate for this by attaching a 12-hour period of rest to another rest period of at least 9 hours before the end of week 4. This compensation cannot be taken in several smaller periods. (See example below.)
Week 1 - 33 hours weekly rest
Week 2 - 45 hours weekly rest
Week 3 - 45 hours weekly rest
Week 4 - 45 hours + 12 hours’ compensation = 57 hours weekly rest
A regular weekly rest is a period of rest of at least 45 hours’ duration.
A reduced weekly rest is a rest period of at least 24 but less than 45 hours’ duration.
My interpretation would therefore be that you’ve already paid back the compensation required by having 14 hours off (11 hours daily rest + 3 hours payback). So you can wipe the slate clean and start again.
limeyphil:
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.Week in, week out be legal?
No because you’re never going to have a regular weekly rest period.
limeyphil:
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.Week in, week out be legal?
Absolutely NOT!
By the end of the 1st week you are 21 hours short of your weekly rest which would need to be compensated for by the end of week 4. Week 2 would be illegal as you must follow a reduced weekly rest by a regular weekly rest (i.e. 45 consecutive hours rest not 48 hours split into 2 x24 hours as per your example). Week 3 would also be illegal for the same reason. By week 4 you are back to only having 24 hours off when in fact you should be having 66 hours off (45 weekly rest + 21 hours payback) to compensate for the 21 hours rest you were short of in week 1. So all in all it’s a complete mess and a definite no, no.
The only way to do a week with just one day off is to then follow it with 2 weeks with regular weekly rest and a 4th week with 66 hours weekly rest i.e. 24 off(wk 1) + 45 off(wk 2) + 45 off(wk 3) + 66 off(wk 4).
sonofjamie:
limeyphil:
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.Week in, week out be legal?
Absolutely NOT!
By the end of the 1st week you are 21 hours short of your weekly rest which would need to be compensated for by the end of week 4. Week 2 would be illegal as you must follow a reduced weekly rest by a regular weekly rest (i.e. 45 consecutive hours rest not 48 hours split into 2 x24 hours as per your example). Week 3 would also be illegal for the same reason. By week 4 you are back to only having 24 hours off when in fact you should be having 66 hours off (45 weekly rest + 21 hours payback) to compensate for the 21 hours rest you were short of in week 1. So all in all it’s a complete mess and a definite no, no.
Not necessarily, it’s perfectly possible to legally have two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods.
If week one was started on Monday after 90 hours off the above scenario would not become illegal until the driver finished week three without a regular weekly rest period.
sonofjamie:
limeyphil:
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.Week in, week out be legal?
Absolutely NOT!
By the end of the 1st week you are 21 hours short of your weekly rest
No your not.
You’ve worked 6 days with 48 hours off in total.
limeyphil:
sonofjamie:
limeyphil:
Would:
work 3 days.
24 off
work 3 days
24 off
work 3 days
24 off.Week in, week out be legal?
Absolutely NOT!
By the end of the 1st week you are 21 hours short of your weekly rest
No your not.
You’ve worked 6 days with 48 hours off in total.
Yes but it’s two reduced weekly rest periods not a regular weekly rest period.
Though if you started the shift pattern on Monday after a few days off you would be starting the week with a regular weekly rest period, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.
tachograph:
Not necessarily, it’s perfectly possible to legally have two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods.
Sorry but you’re wrong. From the VOSA handbook :-
In any two consecutive ‘fixed’ weeks a driver must take at least:
Therefore you CANNOT have two CONSECUTIVE reduced weekly rest periods as you suggest.
sonofjamie:
tachograph:
Not necessarily, it’s perfectly possible to legally have two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods.Sorry but you’re wrong. From the VOSA handbook :-
In any two consecutive ‘fixed’ weeks a driver must take at least:
- two regular weekly rests; or
- one regular weekly rest and one reduced weekly rest.
Therefore you CANNOT have two CONSECUTIVE reduced weekly rest periods as you suggest.
Firstly you can have more than one weekly rest period in a week and they can both or all be reduced weekly rest periods.
That aside, lets suppose a driver works 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and sometimes works Saturdays.
Driver starts week 1 following a weeks holiday
Because he never started Monday until 08:00 the last 45 hours of the weeks holiday counts as a weekly rest period for week 1
Week 1. The driver works Monday to Saturday and has Sunday off.
(Sunday is a reduced weekly rest period used only to start a new six 24 hour periods)
Week 2. The driver works Monday to Saturday and has Sunday off.
(Sunday is a reduced weekly rest period for week 2)
Week 3. The driver works Monday to Friday and has Saturday and Sunday off.
(Saturday and Sunday count as the regular weekly rest period for week 3)
The driver has had a regular weekly rest period for week 1, a reduced weekly rest period for week 2 and a regular weekly rest period for week 3.
So in any two consecutive weeks he has had at-least one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period so complying with the weekly rest requirements of the regulations.
He’s also had two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods:
Notice that the driver has had a reduced weekly rest period on two consecutive Sundays and it’s perfectly legal 
Hi Tacho,
I think we’re essentially saying the same - it’s just the combined use of the words “consecutive” and “weekly rest” that are causing confusion when talking about the fine detail of the VOSA rules.
I agree that you can have two “reduced weekly rests” one after the other, but they must be in the same working week (as per your example above), they would need to be followed by a normal “weekly rest period” the following week (as per your example above). Therefore you cannot have two “consecutive weeks” in which you have reduced your weekly rest period - which is what I was saying.
So Limey’s example remains a total no, no, because he NEVER has a regular weekly rest of 45 consecutive hours. The legal requirements state that you must take a minimum of a full weekly rest, at the very least, every alternate week and payback the reduced weekly rests by the end of the 4th week. e.g. reduced - regular - reduced - regular+payback.