I know there are trampers and long distance drivers doing 6 day weeks sometimes so how do you manage your hours?
my working week has just finished and i have used everything up
Thursday 1800 - 0800, 9.5 driving,
Friday 1700 - 0300, 6 driving,
Saturday 1300 - 0200, 9.5 driving, 9 off due to clocks changing
Sunday 1200 - 0000, 9 driving, (night out)
Monday 1200 - 0015, 8.5 driving end of week!
normally i can do a 6th shift since a Cairnryan is only a 6 hour drive and a longer shift means POA at the beginning of a shift but since they were struggling to cover a run on Sunday, i offered to night out and do an extra run. In 5 days i have used all my 15s and 10s up and my driving time is close enough to 45 hours to rule me out of any extra shift this week (which i don’t normally do anyway but demand for drivers is going up just now). Since my shifts are the same every week, i cant reset the clock on Mondays because i know i need my extensions for thursday/friday/saturday. Occasionally i get a 9 hour Friday night and finish early enough to not waste a 15 but its usually a 10 on, 10 off so i have to assume i need the reduced daily rest for my Saturday. Usually its really easy to keep legal but this has been a headache. Watching driving breaks, WTD breaks, driving hours especially since i wanted a head start today so used up the spare half hour last night after a 2nd break so i had to watch every minute all day.
how do the long distance drivers keep on top of it all, especially planning where you are aiming for when its time to park up?