It is still a minimum 11hrs including one period not less than 8hrs. With a maximum of two movements not longer than 1hour aint it.
As i,m going belgium weekly and am hearing rumours that the French and Belgium are doing drivers cause they have decided its now illegal.
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers johnny
Johnny aka Little John:
It is still a minimum 11hrs including one period not less than 8hrs. With a maximum of two movements not longer than 1hour aint it.
As i,m going belgium weekly and am hearing rumours that the French and Belgium are doing drivers cause they have decided its now illegal.
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers johnny
Not quite and not since 11th April 2007
If you are using the Dover-Calais / Dover-Dunkirk or the Channel Tunnel you cannot use all of Article 9 as you do not have access to a bunk. 11 hours rest within 24 to be taken which may be reduced 3 times per week
Article 9
- By way of derogation from Article 8, where a driver
accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train,
and takes a regular daily rest period, that period may be
interrupted not more than twice by other activities not
exceeding one hour in total. During that regular daily rest
period the driver shall have access to a bunk or couchette.
The French and Belgians have not decided it’s illegal, they are doing drivers who are using the interrupted rest period incorrectly.
First you have the drivers who use it on the ferries out of Dover or when using the Channel Tunnel. You cannot use it on those crossings for the reason Wheel Nut already mentioned so drivers who do use it get done by the French or Belgians for insufficient daily rest.
Second are the drivers who use it on a crossing that they do have access to a bunk on but don’t take enough rest. You need 11 hours rest plus the time for the interruption(s) and just as with normal daily rest it must fit into the 24-hour period which began when you started work. So if you allow even just 15 minutes for each of the two movements that means you have to be parked up in the queue for the ferry with the tacho on rest no more than 12.5 hours after you started that shift. 12.5 hours + 30 minutes for interruptions + 11 hours rest = 24 hours. You get drivers doing 13 or more hours before arriving at the port which mean they cannot use interrupted rest but they still do, get nicked and then say things like ‘The French have decided it’s illegal’ when in fact they are being done for insufficient daily rest. The fact you can interrupt your rest when using a ferry or train does not remove the normal requirements for a daily rest period, especially the 24-hour thing.
Johnny aka Little John:
It is still a minimum 11hrs including one period not less than 8hrs.
It never was that. It used to be you could interrupt a daily rest once and you had to add 2 hours onto the rest period, so a 9 became an 11 or an 11 became a 13, there was no minimum time for either part of the rest period. For over three years now you can only interrupt an 11 hour rest period, which you can do twice, and there is no minimum time for any of the two or three parts which go to make up the rest period.
The 8 hour minimum thing I think you are confusing with the old rules on split daily rest where you could have 3 periods adding up to 12 hours with the longest being at least 8 hours. This is now change to 2 periods with the longest at least 9 hours.
cheers you two. i,m pretty much fbed now my new boss reckons its legal. and i,m on the hill waiting to go to belgium in the morning, having at least 5 dodgy cards in my pack of 29.
I need another new job then. only been here four weeks.
and no doubt ignorance is no excuse.
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clear
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clear
So you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time 
tachograph:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearSo you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time
I love these threads, makes my day to see these folks go back down t’pit. Mr Dixon forgot about t’bed or bunk and couchette as they call em oop north 
Wheel Nut:
tachograph:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearSo you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time
I love these threads, makes my day to see these folks go back down t’pit. Mr Dixon forgot about t’bed or bunk and couchette as they call em oop north
so were does it state in the rules there has to be a cabin
IT DOESNT
tachograph:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearSo you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time
NOi got told i was doing it right he asked for my last 28 days card. he then took them checked them. then told me
they were all ok so YES im doing it right i guess
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clear
yes lee i confirm you are correct. we do the same as you. we were adding the driving on to the 11hr rest until the gaffer got on
to the FTA as we found out off the you dont have to add the driving on. you just have 11hrs off + 2 ferry movements it doesnt state
you need a cabin or anything like that
Try this:
- By way of derogation from Article 8, where a driver
accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train,
and takes a regular daily rest period, that period may be
interrupted not more than twice by other activities not
exceeding one hour in total. During that regular daily rest
period the driver shall have access to a bunk or couchette.
tachograph:
Try this:
- By way of derogation from Article 8, where a driver
accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train,
and takes a regular daily rest period, that period may be
interrupted not more than twice by other activities not
exceeding one hour in total. During that regular daily rest
period the driver shall have access to a bunk or couchette.
Fresh from two weeks of CPC Nat & Intl classroom training, I concur wit the above!! (Not that Tachogaph’s info was ever in doubt ) I’d go dig my notes out, if I could face it, but I’m sure we studied the exact regulation as posted above.
Daf Man 480:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearyes lee i confirm you are correct. we do the same as you. we were adding the driving on to the 11hr rest until the gaffer got on
to the FTA as we found out off the you dont have to add the driving on. you just have 11hrs off + 2 ferry movements it doesnt state
you need a cabin or anything like that
I’m afraid it does, well not that you must have a cabin but that you must have a bunk or couchette. You cannot use it on the Dover - Calais route, on the Dunkirk route or the train. Next time you might not be so lucky and get an official who knows the rules, then you are screwed.
I was with lee at the same time as he was stopped and can confirm what he says is correct.the following week i was stopped at Irun en route from Valencia and had cards checked using same ferry movement method as Lee and got the all clear.I’m not saying what’s right and what’s wrong just confirming my experiences.as for the Spanish they just love us [NOT!] and would take any chance they could to fine and impound us,same as the french,and that I do know.
lee hawke:
tachograph:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearSo you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time
NOi got told i was doing it right he asked for my last 28 days card. he then took them checked them. then told me
they were all ok so YES im doing it right i guess
alan lyles:
I was with lee at the same time as he was stopped and can confirm what he says is correct.the following week i was stopped at Irun en route from Valencia and had cards checked using same ferry movement method as Lee and got the all clear.I’m not saying what’s right and what’s wrong just confirming my experiences.as for the Spanish they just love us [NOT!] and would take any chance they could to fine and impound us,same as the french,and that I do know.lee hawke:
tachograph:
lee hawke:
wrong!!!
you can book off at dover / calais… you have 11hr off. plus 2 movments not exceding 1hr driving
and no you dont have to add it on to your rest. ask vosa officer 1273 dixon he pulled me at broughton a2 m2 roundabout
and gave me the all clearSo you met a VOSA bloke who doesn’t know the regulations, well done but you may not be so lucky next time
NOi got told i was doing it right he asked for my last 28 days card. he then took them checked them. then told me
they were all ok so YES im doing it right i guess
Or it could be simply that the bloke in Irun doesn’t know the rules either and doesn’t know whether you have booked a cabin, a bunk, or a Thai masseuse to be provided on the shuttle.
someone will remember the Kent haulier who recently made the transport press doing this very thing, he had tea and biscuits with the traffic commissioner to discuss the finer points of the regulations.
It is quite possible to drive for 13 hours per day for years, until you get stopped and your cards checked
alan lyles:
I was with lee at the same time as he was stopped and can confirm what he says is correct
All you are confirming is he was lucky enough to get stopped by a VOSA offical who doesn’t know the regulations.
alan lyles:
the following week i was stopped at Irun en route from Valencia and had cards checked using same ferry movement method as Lee and got the all clear
The chances are the guy in Irun doesn’t know the situation regarding no bunk or couchette on the Dover routes but the French around Calais and the Belgians do which is where you get nonsense stories about the French and/or Belgians ‘deciding it’s not legal any more’ when all they are doing is applying the regulations.
Earlier in the thread Tachograph posted the applicable section of the regulations which clearly shows you cannot use interrupted rest on the Eastern Channel short crossings so it would be best if you forgot what some confused VOSA bloke told you and went by them instead because next time it could cost you big.
You can get away with this on the Dunkirk boat as there are some bed/couchette things in the room near the drivers cafeteria.
There are not enough of these to go around all freight drivers, but it is as much the prosecutions problem to prove you were not asleep on one as it is your problem to prove that you were.
If you pull a fridge and get on the boat first who is to say you haven’t got to the room first and bagged a couch/bed thingy ?
MrReliable:
You can get away with this on the Dunkirk boat as there are some bed/couchette things in the room near the drivers cafeteria.
There are not enough of these to go around all freight drivers, but it is as much the prosecutions problem to prove you were not asleep on one as it is your problem to prove that you were.
If you pull a fridge and get on the boat first who is to say you haven’t got to the room first and bagged a couch/bed thingy ?
Here is one I prepared earlier. 
MrReliable:
You can get away with this on the Dunkirk boat as there are some bed/couchette things in the room near the drivers cafeteria.
There are not enough of these to go around all freight drivers, but it is as much the prosecutions problem to prove you were not asleep on one as it is your problem to prove that you were.
If you pull a fridge and get on the boat first who is to say you haven’t got to the room first and bagged a couch/bed thingy ?
They are neither bunks nor cochettes, they don’t count
By the same token you could also try to claim you didn’t go upstairs and stayed in the cab. You have access to a bunk so no problem re the tacho rules, just a different set of regulations to deal with then.
Daf Man 480:
it doesnt state you need a cabin or anything like that
In their defence the FTA yearbook does mention the requirement for a bunk or couchette.