5. Rest and Breaks
5.1 Main Points
Minimum daily and weekly rest provisions under the existing European drivers’ hours rules will continue to apply to drivers.
The Regulations apply those same daily/weekly rest requirements to other mobile workers, trainees and apprentices when travelling in a vehicle within scope of the European drivers’ hour rules.
All mobile workers are subject to rest provisions under the European drivers’ hours rules when travelling in in-scope vehicles.
Break requirements under the Regulations, are in addition to those under the European drivers’ hours rules.
The European drivers’ hours rules break requirements take precedence when driving.
Employers check:
That all mobile workers can take the rest and breaks they are obliged to take.
That mixing driving with other work does not lead to a breach in the break requirements under the Regulations (see examples below).
5.2 Daily Rest
Drivers already have minimum daily rest requirements under the European drivers’ hours rules. For any time spent driving a vehicle within scope of these rules, drivers are required to take 11 consecutive hours rest within the 24 hour period in question (calculated from the moment the driver commences work). This may be reduced to 9 consecutive hours up to 3 times a week. Alternatively a split daily rest period can be taken in two periods. The first period must be at least 3 hours, and the second at least 9 hours.
Under the Regulations, identical daily rest requirements will also apply to other members of the travelling staff (e.g. crew, trainees and apprentices).
5.3 Weekly Rest
The European drivers’ hours rules require that in any two consecutive weeks, a driver shall take at least two regular weekly rest periods, or one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period of at least 24 hours. However, the reduction shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest taken en bloc before the end of the third week following the week in question.
A weekly rest period should start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period.
These same weekly rest requirements also apply to any crew and travelling staff, travelling on in-scope vehicles.
Rest requirements are additional to any paid annual leave entitlement that mobile workers are entitled to under the 1998 Regulations.
5.4 Breaks
The European drivers’ hours rules require that after 4½ hours driving, a driver must take a break of at least 45 minutes. This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a break of at least 30 minutes each distributed over the period.
The break requirements under the Regulations will affect workers who do a mixture of driving and non-driving work. The rules on breaks will also apply on days when the mobile worker is not travelling.
Where mainly driving work is undertaken it is possible that working time breaks may be satisfied by breaks from driving taken under the European drivers’ hours rules, therefore break requirements under the working time Regulations may be more likely to affect workers who do a mixture of driving and non-driving work.
The Regulations require that:
mobile workers must not work more than 6 consecutive hours without taking a break,
if your working hours total between 6 and 9 hours, working time should be interrupted by a break or breaks totalling at least 30 minutes,
if your working hours total more than 9 hours, working time should be interrupted by a break or breaks totalling at least 45 minutes,
breaks should be of at least 15 minutes duration.
In the interest of safety, and as a matter of good practice, it is strongly recommended that breaks should be distributed evenly throughout the day.
When taking a break, drivers may not perform anything that might be regarded as “other work” during this period. Breaks taken under these Regulations may be taken at the workstation (typically this means the driver’s cab - but see glossary for fuller definition of this and other terms).
At no point does it say a shift may not be started with a break 
Why was I told yesterday that I cannot do this when upon research I have to agree with you that you are correct Sirs 
