Pulled over this morning at 9.30 on the dot as I needed to fit in a 9 hour rest and went over the 15 by 5 minutes. I was sure the clock was on 18:32 last night so thought I’d just made it, but having now looked at the printout, it’s showing ‘other work’ at 18:25… then I remembered the manual entry for doing that… Is this something I can write on the back about getting off the road at the first suitable place sort of thing which is what actually happened?
The company sent a guy out in a van and he took over the truck and I drove the van home.
Add to the 5 minutes the time it took you to drive home and you’re probably well over your time so why worry about 5 minutes
Seriously though, you can write an explanation on a printout if you want but unless you had a genuine excuse for not stopping earlier you’re still going to get an infringement.
I tend to think that doing a printout at-least shows that you’re aware of what you did wrong so may save you some ear ache if you have a compliance manager, but it won’t stop you getting an infringement.
Even though you cannot have the correct daily rest period within the 24 hour period be sure to have the correct rest period anyway or you’ll be compounding the offence.
tachograph:
Add to the 5 minutes the time it took you to drive home and you’re probably well over your time so why worry about 5 minutes
Seriously though, you can write an explanation on a printout if you want but unless you had a genuine excuse for not stopping earlier you’re still going to get an infringement.
I tend to think that doing a printout at-least shows that you’re aware of what you did wrong so may save you some ear ache if you have a compliance manager, but it won’t stop you getting an infringement.
Even though you cannot have the correct daily rest period within the 24 hour period be sure to have the correct rest period anyway or you’ll be compounding the offence.
Cheers mate. Lesson learned this time and I’m not one for usually making the same mistake twice. In my defence, if it counts is I had to pass couple of other layby’s as they were already full. I work for a local company (via agency) who seem to have a regular thing with drivers needing swaps in layby’s etc. I will write on the print out and explain to the TM lady next time I see her… I probably won’t be driving again till Friday, so plenty of rest time for me now.
I was more concerned what dvsa would think/ do if they pulled me on a random check thing and checked my card.
andy_s:
I was more concerned what dvsa would think/ do if they pulled me on a random check thing and checked my card.
I can’t speak for the DVSA but if you have a relatively clean card I would expect them to do nothing more than give you some friendly advice about stopping earlier
in the unlikely event that you get stopped don’t tell them you drove back home, legally that time is counted as other work
OK mate. Thanks for your help. I’ll tell them the company sent out another driver and I got the missus to pick me up as it was close to home anyway. Renewed my licence last year so not a lot on tacho card and this is the first thing that I’ve done ‘wrong’ so hopefully if dvsa check my card they take that into consideration.
I do agency work, and one of the companies I drive for said that going over the fifteen is the only offence for which they will ban drivers. Not sure how true this is, but it does seem like they view it dimly.
If you miscalculated, just be honest and say so - we’re not machines, and humans do sometimes make mistakes. If you try to lie your way through it you may find the lie unravels and you’re then faced with the original problem plus the fact that you lied…that makes it a whole lot worse.
A one-off ■■■■ up on an otherwise clean record ought to be excusable, albeit with a bit of a spanking probably.
Where a vehicle coming within the scope of the EU rules is neither at the driver’s home nor at the employer’s operational centre where the driver is normally based, but is at a separate location, time spent travelling to or from that location to take charge of the vehicle, regardless of the mode of transport, cannot be counted as a rest or break, unless the driver is in a ferry or train and has access to a bunk or couchette. Even if the driver is not paid or makes the decision themselves to travel to or from home/base the travel time cannot be counted as rest or break.
Doesn’t matter how you got home…it’s still counted as other work.
Where a vehicle coming within the scope of the EU rules is neither at the driver’s home nor at the employer’s operational centre where the driver is normally based, but is at a separate location, time spent travelling to or from that location to take charge of the vehicle, regardless of the mode of transport, cannot be counted as a rest or break, unless the driver is in a ferry or train and has access to a bunk or couchette. Even if the driver is not paid or makes the decision themselves to travel to or from home/base the travel time cannot be counted as rest or break.
Doesn’t matter how you got home…it’s still counted as other work.
Aren’t the bit’s I’ve picked out in bold the crucial parts. A van isn’t in-scope, so surely the relief driver has to book the time spent in the van travelling out to take charge of the in-scope vehicle as other work, but the now off-duty driver doesn’t need to book it as other work, since they aren’t going anywhere to take charge of an in-scope vehicle?
Where a vehicle coming within the scope of the EU rules is neither at the driver’s home nor at the employer’s operational centre where the driver is normally based, but is at a separate location, time spent travelling to or from that location to take charge of the vehicle, regardless of the mode of transport, cannot be counted as a rest or break, unless the driver is in a ferry or train and has access to a bunk or couchette. Even if the driver is not paid or makes the decision themselves to travel to or from home/base the travel time cannot be counted as rest or break.
Doesn’t matter how you got home…it’s still counted as other work.
Aren’t the bit’s I’ve picked out in bold the crucial parts. A van isn’t in-scope, so surely the relief driver has to book the time spent in the van travelling out to take charge of the in-scope vehicle as other work, but the now off-duty driver doesn’t need to book it as other work, since they aren’t going anywhere to take charge of an in-scope vehicle?
No, travelling to the vehicle or from the vehicle cannot legally be counted as rest.
The only way around this is to finish and start at the same place
Example -
Park up lorry 30 mins from home
Wife collects you from there to home
Wife drops you back to where lorry parked
That travelling time to and fro can be used as rest
Forgive my naivety on this, but if your cards out at the end of a 15hr shift and you don’t have to clock off/sign out anywhere else would anyone ever know you took a van back to the yard/home?
Or have drivers got infringements for this?
Just curious as i’m of the ask no questions tell no lie’s school of thought on this rule, to me just seems a better option than being stuck if not prepared. Although i understand if you’ve got family or mates nearby they would be a better idea for a lift.
RB84:
Forgive my naivety on this, but if your cards out at the end of a 15hr shift and you don’t have to clock off/sign out anywhere else would anyone ever know you took a van back to the yard/home?
No-one is likely to know if you don’t tell them which is why I said in an earlier post “in the unlikely event that you get stopped don’t tell them”
A driver travelling to a specific place, other than the employer’s operating centre, indicated to
him/her by the employer in order to take over and drive a ‘tachograph vehicle’ is satisfying an
obligation towards his/her employer and therefore he/she does not freely dispose of his/her
time.
Hence, in line with Articles 9(2) and 9(3):
any time spent by a driver travelling to or from a location, which is not the driver’s home or
the employer’s operational centre and where the driver is supposed to take over or to leave a
vehicle in the scope of the Regulation, regardless of whether the employer gave instructions
as to when and how to travel or whether that choice was left to the driver, should be recorded
as either ‘availability’ or ‘other work’ depending on the Member State’s national legislation;
and
any time spent by a driver driving a vehicle, which is out of scope of the Regulation, to or
from a location, which is not the driver’s home or the employer’s operational centre and
where a driver is supposed to take over or to leave a vehicle which falls within the scope
of the Regulation should be recorded as ‘other work’
ORC:
I do agency work, and one of the companies I drive for said that going over the fifteen is the only offence for which they will ban drivers. Not sure how true this is, but it does seem like they view it dimly.
If you miscalculated, just be honest and say so - we’re not machines, and humans do sometimes make mistakes. If you try to lie your way through it you may find the lie unravels and you’re then faced with the original problem plus the fact that you lied…that makes it a whole lot worse.
A one-off ■■■■ up on an otherwise clean record ought to be excusable, albeit with a bit of a spanking probably.
I’ve got a pretty good rep so far for this company I’ve been working for (not had a failed timed delivery yet, good customer service feedback etc.) so I’m hoping they aren’t too harsh with me. Genuine miscalculation and won’t be doing it again as one thing I told myself when I got back into this game, it’s my licence and I won’t risk it for the benefit of any company.
