As a newbie, I’m still trying to make sense of the driver hour regs & WTD. I am about to start my first job which will be multidrops on a 48hr basic week.
I will need to get weekday digs near the depot as it’s a bit far for a daily commute & 5:30am start, so this will eat significantly into my pay packet. I hope to cover this with overtime but can’t figure out what my limit would be.
As it’s multidrop, my drving hours will be well under 9 hours per day with a fair bit of “other work” so hitting my driver hours shouldn’t be a problem.
I understand that the EU drivers’ regs limit work to a maximum of 60hrs in any single week with a 48hr limit over a reference period, but as a UK worker, can I opt-out of the 48hr weekly limit. If so, does that mean the 48hr over reference period will no longer apply? And if so, what IS the limit on hours that can be worked a week.
Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere (I searched, but couldn’t find an answer!) I really need to understand this as it will affect my decision on if to accept the job offer
Thanks for the reply, yes, I have read this annex and it was one of the reasons for me asking the question here.
I believe under the WTD, the UK has an exemption giving the option to opt-out of the 48hr rule, but I don’t understand if that is extended to the driver regs for other work.
The Annex does imply that it doesn’t, but as you say, there are companies that appear to not adhere to this. So are they aware that the exemption also covers UK drivers under EU rules (driving only within UK borders) or have they got another loophole or just flaunting the regs■■?
Hmmmmm so if I’m contrarted to do 48hr/week by my employer, that means I could not do any overtime? Yet they say plenty of overtime will be available■■?
Nezza:
Hmmmmm so if I’m contrarted to do 48hr/week by my employer, that means I could not do any overtime? Yet they say plenty of overtime will be available■■?
Confused!
As drivers we work to the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 ( RT(WT)R ) which is different to the general WTD, it’s true that people who work to the general WTD such as factory workers office workers ec’t can opt out of the 48 hour average week but as we work to the RT(WT)R we are not allowed to opt out of the 48 hour average week.
You can work a maximum of 60 hours in any given week but to comply with the working time regulations your working time should average no more than 48 hours over the reference period, it should be noted however that breaks and POA do not count as working time for the regulations and can be used to reduce the average.
So you could indeed work overtime and it’s possible in some jobs to clock up considerably more than an average of 48 hours by using breaks and POA.
Having said that, some companies don’t worry too much about the working time regulations as most people regard them as a load of EU crap that’s been inflicted on us.
Nezza:
Having said that, some companies don’t worry too much about the working time regulations as most people regard them as a load of EU crap that’s been inflicted on us.
But surely all it would take is one phone call to VOSA and they’d get done ?
tachograph:
Having said that, some companies don’t worry too much about the working time regulations as most people regard them as a load of EU crap that’s been inflicted on us.
But surely all it would take is one phone call to VOSA and they’d get done ?
Possibly, but VOSA don’t have the recourse’s to properly monitor and regulate fully the working time regulations.
