Desperately need help from the tacho gurus please, can anyone see anything wrong with this
Start of shift 0600
driving 0610 to 0720
other work 0720 to 0840
driving 0840 to 1109
break 1109 to 1125
driving 1125 to 1235
break 1235 to 1310
driving 1310 to 1330
other work 1330 to 1436
driving 1436 to 1600 end of shift
The reason I ask is that I was pulled by a supervisor the other day for an infringement, he is saying that I should have had the second part of my break at 12 15 to comply with the six hour rule, he said after six hours work you have to have a half hour break.
I then tried to explain to him that as long as you have the first 15 on or before six hours and the second break before 9 hours then that covers it, to which he looked at me like I had just landed and said I was totally wrong and he was not standing arguing with me and the infringement stands and stormed off, the TM who was listening backed him to the hilt echoing his comments adding that the half hour break could not be split into two 15’s
I am sure I’m right about this but need the gurus to look at this and confirm it
The other thing is, looking through my diary I have taken my breaks in the same manner at least 8 times since this first one, so over the next few weeks these are going to start popping up on a regular basis, giving me in their eyes 9 serious infringements which could end up with dismissal, so as you can see I could do with some help here guys and some moral support
5.4 Breaks
The European drivers’ hours rules require that after 4½ hours, a driver must take a break of at
least 45 minutes. This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a
break of at least 30 minutes each distributed over the period.
The break requirements under the Regulations will affect workers who do a mixture of driving
and non-driving work. The rules on breaks will also apply on days when the mobile worker is
not travelling.
The Regulations require that:
mobile workers must not work more than 6 consecutive hours without taking a break,
if your working hours total between 6 and 9 hours, working time should be interrupted by a
break or breaks totalling at least 30 minutes,
if your working hours total more than 9 hours, working time should be interrupted by a break
or breaks totalling at least 45 minutes,
breaks should be of at least 15 minutes duration.
In the interest of safety, and as a matter of good practice, it is strongly recommended that
breaks should be distributed evenly throughout the day.
When taking a break, drivers may not perform anything that might be regarded as “other
work” during this period. Breaks taken under these Regulations may be taken at the
workstation (typically this means the driver’s cab - but see glossary for fuller definition of this
and other terms).
the bit in red is what you are doing so that fine he needs to read the regs again
just had an other look and you have taken your driving break late you have driven for 4.49 min and that makes you break of 35 mins late you should have stopped at 12.15 esh
Big Roy:
Start of shift 0600
10 MINS OTHER WORK SO FAR
driving 0610 to 0720
10 MINS OTHER WORK + 1 HR 10 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
other work 0720 to 0840
50 MINS OTHER WORK + 1 HR 10 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
driving 0840 to 1109
50 MINS OTHER WORK + 3 HR 39 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
break 1109 to 1125
16 MINS BREAK FOR TACHO AND RT(WTD)R REGS
driving 1125 to 1235
50 MINS OTHER WORK + 4 HR 49 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
break 1235 to 1310
35 MINS BREAK FOR RSETTING TACHO AND RT(WTD)R REGS - NOW ENOUGH TO COVER A WORK DAY OF OVER 9 HOURS
driving 1310 to 1330
20 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
other work 1330 to 1436
1 HR 6 MINS OTHER WORK + 20 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
driving 1436 to 1600 end of shift
2 HR 30 MINS OTHER WORK + 20 MIN DRIVING SO FAR
I can see a driving time infringement but nothing else
Big Roy:
The reason I ask is that I was pulled by a supervisor the other day for an infringement, he is saying that I should have had the second part of my break at 12 15 to comply with the six hour rule, he said after six hours work you have to have a half hour break.
I then tried to explain to him that as long as you have the first 15 on or before six hours and the second break before 9 hours then that covers it, to which he looked at me like I had just landed and said I was totally wrong and he was not standing arguing with me and the infringement stands and stormed off, the TM who was listening backed him to the hilt echoing his comments adding that the half hour break could not be split into two 15’s
I am sure I’m right about this but need the gurus to look at this and confirm it
As Del and ROG have said you’ve gone over the legal driving time before completing the 45 minute driving break and that’s what the infringement is likely to be for.
I think what’s happened is that you have an infringement for going over the driving time, but for some reason either the supervisor has explained it badly or you’ve misunderstood him.
You should have had a 30 minute break no later than 12:16
By the way if the supervisor told you that you should have had the second part of the break for the 6 hour rule at 12:15 he was wrong, apart from the fact that the 6 hour rule requires you to have a break of 15 minutes not 30 minutes, in your case the 6 hours were up at 12:00 not 12:15, so either way he’s wrong but to be honest I suspect that there’s been a misunderstanding about what the infringement was for
Thanks for that guys.There certainly seems to be some confusion on this as driving time wasn’t mentioned, I will sit tight and see if another six hour infringement comes up and will keep you posted
If you don’t mind me saying so you need to keep a better eye on your driving times Roy, as you didn’t seem to be aware that you’d run over the time
You may get away with being 19 minutes over the 4.5 hours on the odd occasion but if VOSA stopped you and saw this happening on a regular basis you could expect a serious and bloody beating possibly leading to a prolonged and unexpected rest.
OK!.. perhaps you wouldn’t get a beating but the unexpected rest could be on the cards if this happened too often.
I will consider myself reprimanded tachograph and take it on the chin
The strange thing is, that every driver at work that I have spoken to about this, to a man, all seem to think that a half hour break has to be taken at six hours (and nothing against them they are a great bunch of guys ) this seems to be a common misconception, and one for Rog here, there is even an ex HGV driving instructor working there and even he started to glaze over when I was explaining the rule
As I said I will wait an see if any more of my breaks show up as infringements and keep you posted, thanks again
Big Roy:
I will consider myself reprimanded tachograph and take it on the chin
Sorry mate I didn’t mean it to sound like a reprimand
Just a bit of friendly advise that’s all
Big Roy:
The strange thing is, that every driver at work that I have spoken to about this, to a man, all seem to think that a half hour break has to be taken at six hours (and nothing against them they are a great bunch of guys ) this seems to be a common misconception, and one for Rog here, there is even an ex HGV driving instructor working there and even he started to glaze over when I was explaining the rule
There does seem to be a general misconception that the 6 hour rule triggers a 30 minute break, now I was going to say that the situation isn’t helped by the example shown in the Road Transport (Working Time) Guidance which shows a 30 minute break being triggered after 6 hours work.
However I’ve just noticed that that page has been updated, I’ve also noticed an example I’ve not seen before in that guide
6 hours consecutive other work triggers the break requirement under the Regulations. A break of at least 15 minutes must be taken. Mobile worker A then does another 2 hours other work, takes a break for 15 minutes and then completes another hour of other work before ending their shift. This complies with the Regulations as their working time is interrupted by breaks totalling 30 minutes.
In fact there are now two examples I haven’t noticed in that guide before and they both show clearly that a 15 minute break is required for the 6 hour rule
So next time anyone tells you that you need a 30 minute break for the 6 hour rule just show them that link and ask them if the DFT have got it wrong
Big Roy:
The reason I ask is that I was pulled by a supervisor the other day for an infringement, he is saying that I should have had the second part of my break at 12 15 to comply with the six hour rule, he said after six hours work you have to have a half hour break.
Your supervisor is an idiot who shouldn’t be supervising anything, tell him I said so.
DRIVING SO FAR
