morning all right here goes wakefield to tamworth services 2 hrs 24 mins driving, 35 mins break 1 hour poa, waiting for other driver to arrive from cardiff.tamworth to wakefield 2 hours driving 32 mins break so all together 4 hrs 24 mins driving 1 hour 7 mins break then from wakefield to newton aycliff 1 hour 40 mins gets to newton looks at digi timer on tacho to see what ive done so far and it says 3 hrs 6 mins driving so im like thats not right anyway on the way back its flashing every 5 mins telling me to have a break which i didnt need gets back to wakefield 5 hrs 12 mins driving ive taken two printouts and written on back exactly what happend im going to phone my boss later and get her too make and official record any idea why its done it and anything else i can do to cover myself ?
why didnt you show full 45 that might have saved a problem or even an hour
next time maybe
hitch:
why didnt you show full 45 that might have saved a problem or even an hour
next time maybe
its the first time id done the run and i didnt quite no how stuff was gunna pan out so wanted to utilise all my driving time after seeking advice from some other drivers the general opinion seems to be thats its the hour poa thats messed everything up
hyper26:
morning all right here goes wakefield to tamworth services 2 hrs 24 mins driving, 35 mins break 1 hour poa, waiting for other driver to arrive from cardiff.tamworth to wakefield 2 hours driving 32 mins break so all together 4 hrs 24 mins driving 1 hour 7 mins break then from wakefield to newton aycliff 1 hour 40 mins gets to newton looks at digi timer on tacho to see what ive done so far and it says 3 hrs 6 mins driving so im like thats not right anyway on the way back its flashing every 5 mins telling me to have a break which i didnt need gets back to wakefield 5 hrs 12 mins driving ive taken two printouts and written on back exactly what happend im going to phone my boss later and get her too make and official record any idea why its done it and anything else i can do to cover myself ?
firstly, 2h24m+2h32m is not 4h24m…4h56m there is your infringement.(more than 4.5hrs driving without a valid break)
secondly, POA is recorded as a valid interruption from work, so your 1h POA would have “reset”
the driving time on your VU to zero!..
no mate read again properly 2hrs driving 32 mins break
hyper26:
morning all right here goes wakefield to tamworth services2 hrs 24 mins driving
35 mins break
1 hour poa
tamworth to wakefield 2 hours driving
32 mins break
so all together 4 hrs 24 mins driving + 1 hour 7 mins break
then from wakefield to newton aycliff 1 hour 40 mins
gets to newton looks at digi timer on tacho to see what ive done so far and it says 3 hrs 6 mins driving
so im like thats not right anyway on the way back its flashing every 5 mins telling me to have a break which i didnt need gets back to wakefield 5 hrs 12 mins driving ive taken two printouts and written on back exactly what happend im going to phone my boss later and get her too make and official record any idea why its done it and anything else i can do to cover myself ?
yep my mistake, ok, so after your POA your VU would have reset, so if it took you 1h40m to get from wakey to n’aycliffe, in addition to your 2h driving from tam. to wakey, i would have thought your driving time would show 3h40m? it’s quite hard to follow what your saying without punctuation
Your hours are fine, the printouts were unnecessary, I would tear them up and bin them. You should never trust the warnings/infringments given by the digital tacho, partly cos they count POA as rest, and partly cos they’re years out of date and still count 3 15min breaks as a 45 which as we all know hasn’t been legal for a long time now.
Paul
As Repton says
Digi Tacho looks at POA as a break so anything over 15 mins it will THINK it’s a break as it cant work out what your really doing enough POA will trick the unit into wiping your display unit clear of driving
so much for things made simpler eh
i personally would have got to tamworth then stuck it on break just to get something in even if it was just 15 mins, but as time went on you would have a full 45mins anyway, then gone onto poa maybe.
As Neil regularly says on here, "If it qualifies for POA it also qualifies for Break. Why confuse matters with swapping the mode half way through?
Wheel Nut:
As Neil regularly says on here, "If it qualifies for POA it also qualifies for Break. Why confuse matters with swapping the mode half way through?
Well in this example if he had left it on break and had a full 45 at Tamworth instead of changing to POA after 35 minutes then the shift would have been illegal as there was only another 32min of break taken in the rest of the shift during which time he had driven 5h12min (as shown by the tacho at the end of the shift). He would have either had to take a 45 instead of the 32min at Wakefield on the way back up or another 30min later on in the shift after that.
So although it sounds ridiculous, taking “too much” break at Tamworth would have made the run illegal. Sounds like a good reason to book it as POA to me 
Paul
cheers fella your thinking exactly the same way i was 
There is something not right with your timings. At Newton Aycliff it should have shown 3 hours 40 minutes driving, 2 hours Tamworth to Wakefield and 1 hour 40 minutes Wakefield to Newton Aycliff, not 3 hours 6 minutes. Was this figure of 3 hours 6 minutes taken from the display or a printout?
hyper26:
…and anything else i can do to cover myself ?
You don’t need to do anything to cover yourself, you haven’t, based on the info given, committed any offences. Bin the printouts you have taken and written on the back of, they aren’t needed and you are writing an explanation for an offence which didn’t happen. No need to phone your boss either, when she looks at the download from your card she will only see a legal shift, she won’t have any inclination the tacho head was nagging you to take a break.
Coffeeholic:
There is something not right with your timings. At Newton Aycliff it should have shown 3 hours 40 minutes driving, 2 hours Tamworth to Wakefield and 1 hour 40 minutes Wakefield to Newton Aycliff, not 3 hours 6 minutes.
chris:
so if it took you 1h40m to get from wakey to n’aycliffe, in addition to your 2h driving from tam. to wakey, i would have thought your driving time would show 3h40m?
chris:
Coffeeholic:
There is something not right with your timings. At Newton Aycliff it should have shown 3 hours 40 minutes driving, 2 hours Tamworth to Wakefield and 1 hour 40 minutes Wakefield to Newton Aycliff, not 3 hours 6 minutes.chris:
so if it took you 1h40m to get from wakey to n’aycliffe, in addition to your 2h driving from tam. to wakey, i would have thought your driving time would show 3h40m?
Sorry, missed the fact you already brought that fact up. 
repton:
Wheel Nut:
As Neil regularly says on here, "If it qualifies for POA it also qualifies for Break. Why confuse matters with swapping the mode half way through?Well in this example if he had left it on break and had a full 45 at Tamworth instead of changing to POA after 35 minutes then the shift would have been illegal as there was only another 32min of break taken in the rest of the shift during which time he had driven 5h12min (as shown by the tacho at the end of the shift). He would have either had to take a 45 instead of the 32min at Wakefield on the way back up or another 30min later on in the shift after that.
So although it sounds ridiculous, taking “too much” break at Tamworth would have made the run illegal. Sounds like a good reason to book it as POA to me
Paul
Point taken, but another 10 minutes break, rather than waiting for a trailer later in the day wouldn’t be a problem would it? Or take the whole amount in Tamworth as POA and have your 45m dinner on the way to Wakefield. The main problem is the 32 minute break will only count as 15 minutes so 17 minutes are wasted.
We have to adapt to these rules, 15 minutes followed by 30 or a complete 45 is the only sequence or combination of breaks that are allowed.
Wheel Nut:
The main problem is the 32 minute break will only count as 15 minutes so 17 minutes are wasted.
I don’t understand why that is a problem? I know it only counts as 15 towards the 45 but it’s still a break and it still counts as 32 minutes of break when you’re working out your working time for the day. As he did the shift it was 100% legal. The problem is not in how he took his breaks/POA but in the out of date software in most/all digital tachos.
Paul
I know I’ve said it before, but the 4 and 1/2 hours starting after 45 minutes, is the stupidest rule ever IMO, and forces drivers to rush breaks, or wake up to switch tachos to POA, in order to keep themselves right for the rest of the day.
Madness, pure madness. Number of times, I’ve had to rush back to my wagon to change mode, or forget and have to have an extra 45 that I didn’t really need. It just makes the job harder, IMO