Im hoping some of the experts can give me a definitive answer to this.
My current working day goes like this every day every week.
start at 4.30am. Card in, record other work while i do daily checks,check load, paperwork etc
start driving about 5am, drive solid for 3 1/2 hours then a combination of driving/other work till i get the 4.15 warning then head for a certain customers yard where i get to park up and use their canteen etc. by this time it is about 10.45, 11"O"clock
I stick it on break and have lunch and either just read me book, get my head down or even go for a walk round town which means i some times record a break of up to 2hrs.
Do my last couple of drops and head back down the road in about 3 3/4 hrs , finish about 5pm once i’ve handed in my docs.
At no time do i put the tacho on poa. Now i have my boss telling me that i’ll have to come off my run for 1 week a month so that i can record poa to comply with the WTD. all in i do between 50 and 60hrs a week, with about 36hrs driving. is he right?
hi mate
POA and brakes do not count for the WTD/RTD ans long as you have not worked for an average 48 hours a week over a 17 week reference period or 26 week reference period you would meet your WTD/RTD
grousebeater:
Now i have my boss telling me that i’ll have to come off my run for 1 week a month so that i can record poa to comply with the WTD. all in i do between 50 and 60hrs a week, with about 36hrs driving. is he right?
He is sort of right. Whether or not you are recording POA isn’t the issue here, POA and break are near enough the same thing and for the purposes of the WTD neither count toward your working time.
The issue is you are averaging more than 48 hours per week over the reference period if you are doing 50 - 60 hours actual work each week. Using your example above you are at work approximately 12.5 hours a day, 04:30 - 17:00 and taking off your 2 hours a day of break that leaves you 10.5 hours working time x 5 days = 52.5 hours a week. That in itself isn’t a problem, you can work 60 hours maximum a week, but if you are doing that each and every week you will not meet the required 48 hour average.
When he says he wants you to come off your run so you can record POA he is talking nonsense, you could record POA on your current run, 45 minutes break and 75 minutes POA instead of a 2 hour break, but it wouldn’t decrease the number of hours you work. What you need to do is work less than 48 hours some weeks so over whatever reference period your company work to you will average 48 hours actual work per week.
if he wants you on a different run 1 week in 4 to make your average right, and you have done 3 weeks of say 52.5 hours each, then that 4th week you would need to work 34.5 hours to bring your average to the correct amount. 52.5 x 3 = 157.5 + 34.5 = 192 / 4 = 48.
You don’t have to average it out over a month, the reference periods are longer than that but maybe he doesn’t want it getting out of hand so you end up having to do nothing for a week or so.
Delboy,Coffeeholic thanks for your replies.
Coffeholic you are absolutely right he doesn’t want me having to take days off to bring me down to a 48hr average,unfortunately he is blinkered by the WTD and if he doesn’t see POA he goes into panic mode.
There is no guarantee that i would get POA if i were on a local run,so i could be doing locals for weeks. The thing that grips me is that i have that run down to a T and all the punters are happy because they are guaranteed to get their goods within a half hour time frame every day which suits them and me.
I suggested that rather than take me off, why not double man it for 1 or if neccessary 2 days a week and i dont drive so can rack up about 8 hrs POA in one go. that way the customers will keep the level of service that they have come to expect.
If he doesn’t go for that then i think i’ll just have to take the hit in wages which will be about £100 a week.
thanks again for replying
grousebeater