First time I’ve posted to the forum. I’ve browsed a lot but could do with a bit of advice.
I’ve been at my first class 1 (never had a class 2 job) for about a month now. It’s a tramping job average a 2\3 nights out a week and salaried.
My question is to do with this kind of work and the working time regs. I’ve worked out that I’ve been doing about 65 hours a week since starting and I’m assuming this will always be the case. So how does this work with regards to the average 48 hour over 17 weeks? I’ve looked it up and hgv drivers can’t opt out at all. I’m guessing it’s the same with nearly all hauliers trying to get the most out of us for their money but when it turns out it is illegal what have any of you done, or do you just ■■■■ it up and carry on?
Could do with some advice it’s worrying me is this.
If your doing 65 hours working in a week then this is illegal regardless of the 48 hour average as you are only permitted to work a maximum of 60 hours in a fixed week.
Yeh that’s not including breaks and haven’t even touched the POA setting haha.
Can we not opt out of the 60 hour week? From the way it is worded I thought you could as long as you don’t break the driving limit rules.
Yeh there’s the 26 weeks to I was forgetting that. Do you guys keep track of all this or are your employers honest and on top of it? Apparently mine aren’t.
Twiglet015:
Yeh there’s the 26 weeks to I was forgetting that. Do you guys keep track of all this or are your employers honest and on top of it? Apparently mine aren’t.
i’m on for dhl…they keep track in our yard,and i usually end up doing ‘reduced days’ towards the end of the 26 week period.
Just get to tacho onto break as soon as your stopped , loading/unloading at Least that’s what we were "encouraged "to do at a previous employer of mine . I didn’t work there for very long
Twiglet015:
Yeh that’s not including breaks and haven’t even touched the POA setting haha.
Can we not opt out of the 60 hour week? From the way it is worded I thought you could as long as you don’t break the driving limit rules.
No you cannot opt out of the 60hr week. There is no opt out of the Road Transport Directive (Mobile Workers). The best you can do is maximise the use of your breaks and PoA to keep under that. If you drive 5 days a week and do more than 4.5hrs driving a day you’re already going to have 3.75hrs of tacho breaks so you’re already able to do 63.75hrs just with that.
The limit is there for a reason. You’re a long time dead. Working 60+hrs a week you have no life. You can’t do anything during the week when you’re working and you’re that knackered on a weekend you don’t want to do anything.
Cheers for the replies. Asked them about it and they say they are very strict on hours. They download the tacho every week and tell us if we’ve gone over and apparently I’ve been very close. Must have just worked it out wrong I guess.
First time I’ve posted to the forum. I’ve browsed a lot but could do with a bit of advice.
I’ve been at my first class 1 (never had a class 2 job) for about a month now. It’s a tramping job average a 2\3 nights out a week and salaried.
My question is to do with this kind of work and the working time regs. I’ve worked out that I’ve been doing about 65 hours a week since starting and I’m assuming this will always be the case. So how does this work with regards to the average 48 hour over 17 weeks? I’ve looked it up and hgv drivers can’t opt out at all. I’m guessing it’s the same with nearly all hauliers trying to get the most out of us for their money but when it turns out it is illegal what have any of you done, or do you just ■■■■ it up and carry on?
Could do with some advice it’s worrying me is this.
The best bit of advice I can give is to find another job completely away from transport. Unless of course you’re happy to be treated like crap every day. Worked into an early grave by operators who force you to work 60 hours per week for peanuts. The list of reasons to find another job/industry is endless. If you’re new to the industry then you’ve still got time to find something else. Believe me, the novelty of driving a truck day in day out for years will soon wear thin.!
Just deduct your breaks each day from your total working time to calculate it properly. Might also be usefull to calculate your hourly rate based on total hours if your salaried.
The whole WTD thing may just be another EU law the UK doesnt take that seriously though, but always best to stay on the right side of these things.
Due to the amount of top flip flop totty at RDC’s I think it would be a misstake for us to leave the EU, just a renegotiate of our position is needed I.e. the EU laws are optional for the UK etc. But thats a debate for another time.
eagerbeaver:
Whats tempted you back on here Conor? (Just curious).
The agency hate posts seem to have come to an end and there was a guy who was looking at being on sick who needed some advice.
The agency hate posts haven’t come to an end at all chief - And eagerbeaverbellend aka 5 times is one of the main protagonists of agency bashing,in case you didn’t know.
at Least that’s what we were "encouraged "to do at a previous employer of mine . I didn’t work there for very long 
