I’m an imposter from the Old Time section. A mate is half-considering doing long-distance. He is concerned that, at the end of the day, he must stay with the vehicle, for security purposes, rather than go for a walk or a pint. Do some firms stipulate this, or is it at the driver’s discretion to make a judgment on the sort of people likely to frequent his lay-by of choice?
Never even considered staying with the vehicle for such reasons, if it involves night watchman duties they can pay night rate for the whole time its parked as well as NO money.
Some companies stipulate where you can park, ie secure parking or motorway service areas if they prefer insecure places where the driver won’t get a bloody wink, but no bugger can tell you not to leave the vehicle, i spent many nights in B&B’s right up to stopping nights away despite sleeper cab.
Juddian:
Never even considered staying with the vehicle for such reasons, if it involves night watchman duties they can pay night rate for the whole time its parked
THIS
When they continue to pay my hourly rate for the 11 hours I am on daily rest (as well.as my n/o subsistence) then and only then would I take any notice if they told me to stop with my vehicle. 
It’s my OWN TIME,… I’ll do wtf I want.
Think your mate has been influenced by a combintion of listening to the daymen’s ‘‘unpaid security guard’’ ■■■■■■■■, and watching too many of these sad arsed types who sit in their cabs all night at the side of a road in a ■■■■ lay by like they.are in solitary confinement or something.
When I was driving on agency none of the numerous companies I drove for ever suggested I should stay with the vehicle when on a night out.
As has been suggested you’re not paid to be a night watchman.
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When on daily rest the driver must be able to "freely dispose of his time as his wishes " . As per previous post your employer may stipulate where you park same as the adr regulations do but they cant force you to stay with the vehicle
tachograph:
When I was driving on agency none of the numerous companies I drove for ever suggested I should stay with the vehicle when on a night out.As has been suggested you’re not paid to be a night watchman.
Sent from my mobile.
I am surprised as a tachograph guru you haven’t mentioned the obvious. If he has to stay with the vehicle he is still at work. 15:01 hrs after he started he’d be incurring a major infringement, because he is not free to do as he wishes, so he’s not resting.
I’d happily leave the vehicle for a couple of hours, hell I’d leave it for a couple of weeks too. As Robroy said above I’m not a security guard (certainly not if they ain’t paying me). I’ll exercise due diligence such as parking on and ind estate near an obvious cctv camera whilst I go off for a meal and a beer, but that’s as far as my “guarding” the companies vehicle goes.
Sand Fisher:
tachograph:
When I was driving on agency none of the numerous companies I drove for ever suggested I should stay with the vehicle when on a night out.As has been suggested you’re not paid to be a night watchman.
Sent from my mobile.
I am surprised as a tachograph guru you haven’t mentioned the obvious. If he has to stay with the vehicle he is still at work. 15:01 hrs after he started he’d be incurring a major infringement, because he is not free to do as he wishes, so he’s not resting.
I’m not a tachograph guru.
You are right about the rest period though.
Sent from my mobile.
When ever I park.up I always leave my truck go for a walk round the block. Etc you have to get out get a change of scenery . Stretch your legs.
On a few occasions even had a walk and been to the cinema.
I think.id go insane if stayed with my truck 24 7 .
End of the day if get robbed you get robbed .don’t matter if your there or not. As even if was there id not get invloved anyway. Not worth it
shullbit:
Juddian:
Never even considered staying with the vehicle for such reasons, if it involves night watchman duties they can pay night rate for the whole time its parkedTHIS
This too. In fact if I’m near friends or family that I have scattered round country I’ve been known to leave the lorry all night. And last year during the heatwave I spent a couple of nights in an air conditioned hotel, so no, wouldn’t think twice. Secure it as much as possible and leave it. In fact if someone wants it when I’m in it they can have it, I’m not risking my safety for a lorry
NO law or company can compel you to stay with your vehicle whilst on a night out When you have done your shift and on your 9-11 off you are free to go where you want and do as you please.Common sense you park somewhere reasonably same and secure you dont want your personal gear to get pinched while your away. As for the motor unless your paid for your time off or get security payment to stay with their motor theres nothing the company do about it.
Leave it where you like just remember where you parked it. 
Until recently I was an operator and at no point expected a driver to stay with the truck all night once he parked up, Go for a walk or a bike ride, have your dinner at the local.
Thank you all for excellent, thoughtful replies. Very helpful.
Some companies, and most agencies, have a daft rule of ‘staying within a line of sight of your vehicle’, in order to prevent it from being nicked. However I don’t think they actually expect it to be adhered to as you wouldn’t even be able to go for a ■■■■ in a services if you obeyed.
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CookieMonster:
Some companies, and most agencies, have a daft rule of ‘staying within a line of sight of your vehicle’, in order to prevent it from being nicked. However I don’t think they actually expect it to be adhered to as you wouldn’t even be able to go for a ■■■■ in a services if you obeyed.Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
They will only expect it to be adhered to by those amongst us who do everything that they are told no matter how unfair or unjust that may be.
So cue the yesmen and the arse crawlers.
So they’ll be banking on their trucks being watched permanently by about 30% of their drivers…better than none at all will be the way they see it.
Daily rest is classed as “free to dispose of your time” which you can’t do if they require you to be with the vehicle so it’s illegal as far as I can see
Only criteria my company applies is that if you are on a night out you must not consume alcohol if you’re sleeping in the cab.
Some might think this annoying (on the grounds that if it was a sales manager staying in a hotel there wouldn’t be an issue) but on balance I don’t think it’s unreasonable.
Sidevalve:
on balance I don’t think it’s unreasonable.
Sorry mate but I think it’s totally unreasonable. If they said you weren’t to consume non prescription drugs prior to a shift I’d totally agree, purely because that is illegal. Alcohol on the other hand isn’t. Let’s not muddy the waters with the whole drink drive spiel because that won’t wash as your company policy doesn’t state that you cannot drink at home when on a day run so it really has no legs.
That smacks of an underemployed middle manager desperately trying to justify his/her wages I’m afraid.