i had the same problem at the place i work at.
i asked all the drivers to take their breaks while being tipped at customer sites as they are paid through their breaks.
they could sit on a loading bay for 60+ minutes on POA & then stop at services on way back for another 45 to renew their driving time.
then go to the next drop & sit again for another 60 mins getting tipped.
so now it’s printed on their run sheets to take their breaks while being tipped as they do not do any work while this happens & it is part of the bonus scheme that breaks are taken while being tipped at customer sites.
as well gettng the trucks back earlier for the 2’nd runs it also keeps WTD time down & might save a few hours a week in overtime.
i have drivers timesheets coming back with over 3 hours of breaks everyday,but all taken at customer sites while getting tipped.can’t ask form anything more from them.
I wouldn’t like to take a break on a loading bay because I don’t get paid for breaks. I feel that I get paid a fair hourly rate and overtime so it’s a situation I’m comfortable with.
Then again, thanks to TNUK, I have a good idea when to apply POA to make the most of my hours to benifit me and my employer.
I feel sorry for drivers, like the one in Sheps example who feel (either through averice or stupidity) that they are better off dragging the day out, almost to the point of incomptence.
I’ve found, that with hourly pay or day rate, that just doing a fair days work is the best policy.
Personally, I prefer hours because if I do my bit I get my pick of the overtime when it comes up. While my more laggardly colleagues tend to get what they are given or in quiet times, hardly any work at all.
W
This has to be my favourite one off that page so far
“I have been in front of Beverly Bell, She would have a field day with this company and all its drivers. I have been at Tesco’s when VOSA was stopping every driver who came out and check their tacho’s and made them all park up for 45 mins to have a real break”
I can just picture all the roads around Tesco being full of parked up artics all on a compulsory 45m break.
What I can’t figure out is how come all these drivers coming out of Tesco needed a break? Were they all on 4.5 hours driving when they got there 
I’m amazed that these people actually appear to believe what they are typing. You see some ■■■■ on Trucknet but nothing anywhere near as bad as some of the comments on that page.
Ah well, it’s kept me amused today
a proper driver would have a break whilst driving.
What is scarier is that on this site we hide behind usernames and avatars when spouting crap. Yet there they publish their names and photos while coming out with this complete and utter ■■■■■■■■. 
dar1976:
pierrot 14:
Post a link to this rubbish,
I’m currently on holiday at home and I need some alternative kind of entertainment
i thought i’d post on there.
i will probably get some abuse off them.
limeyphil:
a proper driver would have a break whilst driving.
Gotta be my favourite quote of the day and one I will use many times to come
Well done Phil … 
I am a night driver and do record a break whilst being tipped (perfectly legal), but will stop for my “real” break when I need it/find somewhere suitable.
shep532:
all this particular company are saying is that you CAN record a break sat at an RDC etc and that it might just help the company if you do. The company understands that at that particular time you may not be ready for your lunch/breakfast/brew etc and may not have the appropriate items with you but you CAN still record a break.
I read it as you WILL take a break whilst sat at a RDC, and “the practise of having a break after a long period of inactivity will stop immediately”
shep532:
Once you leave those premises then by all means stop somewhere suitable and take a ‘sensible’ time for your food/brew break.
What is a “sensible” time, given that I have just spent 3 hrs in a RDC waiting room listening to all sorts of mmtm drivel.
shep532:
What the company don’t want to see is 2 or 3 hours sitting at an RDC recording work whilst sitting around reading the paper, then stop 20 minutes down the road for an hour to have a break.
as above, I have just spent 3 hrs sitting in an “unsuitable” waiting room. The time spent in there CAN be recorded as “break”, but, as far as I am concerned, I am “not recuperated”, so sometimes, I will stop 20 mins down the road to “recuperate”.
My post is the 1 on facebook written by me - Wayne Large.
shep532:
limeyphil:
a proper driver would have a break whilst driving.Gotta be my favourite quote of the day and one I will use many times to come
Well done Phil …
Surely a proper (or Irish ) driver would have his REST while driving?
Well I had a go at educating them but fear I was banging my head up a brick wall lol
A lot of it might be forkie input
I offered 6 months wages if he could show me the relevant rules that prove what he was saying is right.
Agree 100% with Redboxer.
I am stopped 1 hour per day for breaks and I am going to have my unpaid hour in what I consider reasonable comfort, which is not most RDC waiting rooms. Yes, I’ll put it on break while on the bay when someone else is unloading it, but if it is not at a time of day when my bodyclock says “eat” etc, then that is going to happen at a more suitable time for my health during another break.
If it looks as if time is tight to get home, then there may well be a departure from this practice, but I am not going to be TOLD " you will record break while being unloaded and treat that time as your unpaid break".
If companies don’t like excessive downtime while at RDCs etc - then DO something about it.
That’s fair enough in my opinion, if you’re docked a break, then you take it where you want - still take breaks on bays if doing nowt to enable you to have your break at a time and place that suits you not the tacho rules.
I was on boxes which pays all hours (unless on agency who want to deduct 45 mins 
), so therefore, I’d have my breaks on doors, but if I needed grub I’d just stop, if I needed the loo, I’d just stop and at no time would I expect to be, nor was I, asked why I’ve stopped for another 20 mins or whatever.
Any company that I have an interview with doesn’t get any bull crap - maybe that’s why I don’t get jobs ? - I tell them where I stand, and ask them what exactly they want and we either agree, comprimise or go our seperate ways.
When on agency, if I can finish in under my guarenteed hours (currently 
, then I’ll try and get the job done without a break, but if I go over that, then I require a break, then things change.
Like tomorrow, I can’t possibly finish in under 8hrs with 7 drops around west Wales from Manchester, going to be over 8hrs driving, so I’ll be having my 45 where I want to take it since it’s unpaid.
Red boxers post gets a thumbs up from me to.
Yes… I’ll gladly have my tacho on break while sat on a bay in tescos. And if it means the difference between getting home or not I’ll use it for the companies benefit.
But if I come off that bay and feel hungry or tired, I’ll be stopping for lunch or a kip. You can “order” me to do whatever you like… I’m behind the wheel controlling what happens.
shep532:
This is a subject that is currently causing problems at a company I work for. Some drivers are up in arms because I have issued a memo to tell them that breaks will be recorded whilst vehicles are tipped (as long as they aren’t involved in the work etc).
Have I read it wrong, or are you telling your drivers when to take their breaks?
shep532:
I’ve had the “I had to put it on POA because they were unloading the vehicle” He was just sitting in the cab at the time.
Apart from the “I had to put it on POA” part (you don’t have to book POA at all) what’s the problem? “Just sitting in the cab” is a legit POA.
Muckaway:
Have I read it wrong, or are you telling your drivers when to take their breaks?
At the company I am talking about (obviously not the one that is the subject of the facebook nonesense) we pay drivers for their breaks and we are quite within our rights to tell them when and where they will take those breaks as long as that is within the law and relevant rules. this is no different than telling a warehouse worker when his breaks will be.
However - that is not what we are telling drivers. We are asking for their co-operation to save time (therefore money) where possible. A driver leaving tesco after a 2 hour sit in the waiting room (other crappy RDCs are available) and stopping later on for a 20 minute bite to eat etc is not a problem and completely understandable. Stopping for an hour (or more) … well kind of annoys, especially when you also see periods of POA recorded and tracker records show the vehicle to be in a layby, services etc. it is nothing more than diddling the company and stretching out the day to get a 15 in and probably a night out. Sometimes - well you just gotta stop. Falling asleep, toiletry issues etc etc. Fair enough and not a problem. the company are employers - not slave drivers
Unfortunately there are a few causing the problems. The militant “You can’t have a break on a bay” “VOSA arrest you for taking a break at tesco” - heard it all. Fact is that a break may be recorded when sitting in the waiting room at these RDCs and if it is company policy to do so - then they must do so.
Muckaway:
shep532:
I’ve had the “I had to put it on POA because they were unloading the vehicle” He was just sitting in the cab at the time.Apart from the “I had to put it on POA” part (you don’t have to book POA at all) what’s the problem? “Just sitting in the cab” is a legit POA.
I was just highlighting the total lack of understanding of the rules - or total attempt to ■■■■■■■■ their way out of the hole they were digging themselves. Some ares tupid enough to tell other drivers their little secrets about where you can hang the job out, where you can say you had to help tip etc etc … then that other driver passes on the information because they realise these people are just spoiling it for the rest.
Shep532, I was paid for breaks when on our wagons, but I still liked my breaks where I wanted, in a nice shaded layby, not the middle of a building site. Heard so much crap about what was and what wasn’t a poa I just couldn’t be arsed and only changed modes for breaks. Even several hours broke down in our workshop I’d be on “crossed hammers”. Keep things simple.
Basically, for most drivers, if they’re not driving or directly involved in unloading they’re either on break or at worst-case POA.
Oddly, a lot on that Facebook page seem to think the definition of break is ‘disposing of my time in a way that is definitely of no benefit to my employer’.