Right then fellow members,can anyone awnser this question?I have been told by a workmate that if i am unable to return to base within a 15 hour shift, for whatever reason (although the weather at the moment is the most likely cause) that we are not allowed to park the vehicle & make our way home & apparently this is a vosa law■■? Although i am new to the profession its not something i’ve heard off & it sounds like the company hiding behind a so called law so u dont leave their vehicle in the middle of nowhere - Can anyone give me a deffinative awnser please■■?
DT@Leightonhaul:
Right then fellow members,can anyone awnser this question?I have been told by a workmate that if i am unable to return to base within a 15 hour shift, for whatever reason (although the weather at the moment is the most likely cause) that we are not allowed to park the vehicle & make our way home & apparently this is a vosa law■■? Although i am new to the profession its not something i’ve heard off & it sounds like the company hiding behind a so called law so u dont leave their vehicle in the middle of nowhere - Can anyone give me a deffinative awnser please■■?
There is no law that prevents you leaving your vehicle, your companies vehicle or any vehicle. However even though they are blustering with excuses i would think you would be foolish to leave it if they have asked you not to. I’m just guessing here…but if it was to get damaged or stolen whilst you are away they may turn to you and say its equipped with rest facilities and we expect you to use them…etc…and blah blah blah… Even though its not law that you stay with it, it may be deemed as a reasonable request.
If you park at base and travel home it does not affect your rest period.
If you don`t then it does.
There might be provision for usual parking place rather than base but not sure.
Your workmate is correct imo.
Dont know about a “deffinative answer”" but i would be inclined to park up and claim a night out
We were told that after 15 hours,if you can`t get back to base,then you stay with your truck.
Apparently the laws changed last year and you can`t even travel passenger to return home.
I could be wrong… 
Yes you can as you are free to dispose of your time as you wish BUT you must pick up the truck from the same place you left it
Any time spent travelling to a location to take charge of a vehicle falling within the scope of this Regulation,
or to return from that location, when the vehicle is neither at the driver’s home nor at the employer’s operational
centre where the driver is normally based, shall not be counted as a rest or break unless the driver is on a ferry
or train and has access to a bunk or couchette.
tacho-analysis.co.uk/info/HoursLaw2007.pdf
According to this your wrong ROG.
If you park up your truck and your wife picks you up and takes you home then brings you back to the truck at the same place you left it then I think you will find that is ok.
If the company is doing it for you then that is not ok
I’m sure coffeeholic or someone just as knowledgeable will be along soon…
ROG:
Yes you can as you are free to dispose of your time as you wish BUT you must pick up the truck from the same place you left it
ROG, do you just get a pin and stab randomly at the keyboard?
It depends upon one factor.
What day of the week it is. That has always influenced my decisions regarding EU regulations. 
Mike-C:
ROG:
Yes you can as you are free to dispose of your time as you wish BUT you must pick up the truck from the same place you left itROG, do you just get a pin and stab randomly at the keyboard?
posting.php?mode=quote&f=7&p=428993
Coffeeholic:
The driver can do whatever they want in their own time, and one of the conditions of a daily or weekly rest period is indeed that the driver is free to dispose of their time. However, the regulations are very precise as to when a rest period commences, and until a rest period commences the free to dispose of their time thing doesn’t come into play. So by finishing in a place that isn’t their or their employers base and commencing work in a different place then the driver doesn’t begin his rest period when he parks up and as they are not on rest they are not free to dispose of their time as far as the Driver’s Hours Regulations go.Scenario A
Driver lives in Luton and works in Hatfield. Runs out of time at Northampton having used every minute of his 15 hours, whereupon he switches tacho to rest. Company send out a car and he uses that vehicle to go home to Luton while the driver who brought out the car drives the truck to Hatfield. The driver takes the car to Hatfield in the morning to return to his vehicle and resumes work.
That is illegal, as is clearly stated in the regulations and has been proved in court by the Skills Coaches case. He begins and ends in a different place so part of the travelling time between the finishing and starting place has to be Other Work.** By travelling home and resuming work in a different place he was not on rest when he parked in Northampton and was therefore not free to dispose of his time.
**NOTE: Not POA as he is out of hours so cannot be free to return to his workstation at any time, a requirement of POA.
Scenario B
Driver lives in Luton and works in Hatfield. Runs out of time at Northampton having used every minute of his 15 hours, whereupon he switches tacho to rest. He then makes his way home to Luton by whatever means, hitching, public transport, being picked up etc. In the morning he returns to Northampton and his vehicle, again by what ever means he chooses, and resumes work. From the time he parked until he returns the next morning he was on a daily rest period and was therefore free to dispose of his time as he wanted. He wanted to go home so he did
That scenario is legal.
aranger:
Any time spent travelling to a location to take charge of a vehicle falling within the scope of this Regulation,
or to return from that location, when the vehicle is neither at the driver’s home nor at the employer’s operational
centre where the driver is normally based, shall not be counted as a rest or break unless the driver is on a ferry
or train and has access to a bunk or couchette.tacho-analysis.co.uk/info/HoursLaw2007.pdf
According to this your wrong ROG.
I think aranger is probably right, but the chances of getting caught by vosa are so slim I wouldn’t worry about it. On the other hand if anything happened to your truck in your absence you’d be up ■■■■ creek!
Bloody new forum!!! Tried posting 2 replys to rog & joemaxi but there in the ether somewhere!!!
DT@Leightonhaul:
Bloody new forum!!! Tried posting 2 replys to rog & joemaxi but there in the ether somewhere!!!
I cannot see the one you posted about the missing replies 
OK so if i found myself in scenario A,but instead of going home in the company car i drove back to base & then drove my own car home & the other driver drove the truck back to base where would that leave me??
DT@Leightonhaul:
OK so if i found myself in scenario A,but instead of going home in the company car i drove back to base & then drove my own car home & the other driver drove the truck back to base where would that leave me??
If you let it bother you, It will leave you confused.
Me neither Rog!!! it did say they were posted tho
U must be physcic limeyphill !!!
DT@Leightonhaul:
OK so if i found myself in scenario A,but instead of going home in the company car i drove back to base & then drove my own car home & the other driver drove the truck back to base where would that leave me??
How did you and the other driver both drive it back to base 
ROG:
Mike-C:
ROG:
Yes you can as you are free to dispose of your time as you wish BUT you must pick up the truck from the same place you left itROG, do you just get a pin and stab randomly at the keyboard?
posting.php?mode=quote&f=7&p=428993
Coffeeholic:
The driver can do whatever they want in their own time, and one of the conditions of a daily or weekly rest period is indeed that the driver is free to dispose of their time. However, the regulations are very precise as to when a rest period commences, and until a rest period commences the free to dispose of their time thing doesn’t come into play. So by finishing in a place that isn’t their or their employers base and commencing work in a different place then the driver doesn’t begin his rest period when he parks up and as they are not on rest they are not free to dispose of their time as far as the Driver’s Hours Regulations go.Scenario A
Driver lives in Luton and works in Hatfield. Runs out of time at Northampton having used every minute of his 15 hours, whereupon he switches tacho to rest. Company send out a car and he uses that vehicle to go home to Luton while the driver who brought out the car drives the truck to Hatfield. The driver takes the car to Hatfield in the morning to return to his vehicle and resumes work.
That is illegal, as is clearly stated in the regulations and has been proved in court by the Skills Coaches case. He begins and ends in a different place so part of the travelling time between the finishing and starting place has to be Other Work.** By travelling home and resuming work in a different place he was not on rest when he parked in Northampton and was therefore not free to dispose of his time.
**NOTE: Not POA as he is out of hours so cannot be free to return to his workstation at any time, a requirement of POA.
Scenario B
Driver lives in Luton and works in Hatfield. Runs out of time at Northampton having used every minute of his 15 hours, whereupon he switches tacho to rest. He then makes his way home to Luton by whatever means, hitching, public transport, being picked up etc. In the morning he returns to Northampton and his vehicle, again by what ever means he chooses, and resumes work. From the time he parked until he returns the next morning he was on a daily rest period and was therefore free to dispose of his time as he wanted. He wanted to go home so he did
That scenario is legal.
Where (anywhere) does it say you have to get your truck from where you left it?