I know I am gonna sound thick, but what is the purpose of POA?
As I understand, it makes no difference to how many hours you drive, how many hours spread you can do or even how long you can have off when you are done.
I know that you are suppopsed to know about it BEFORE you get somewhere and therefore doesnt apply when the gimp in the RDC hangs you around for hours on end.
So, what IS it for■■?
Sorry folks, just never quite got it.
The only purpose as far as I can see is if the driver does not get paid for breaks
I use it to work more than 48hrs a week over a 17 week period, also keeps my hours down with POA and i get a shift every other saturday.
meant to keep your hours down most drivers just bang it on break i have to use it , everyday i have to record all activity includin poa seems some companies dont like drivers appearing to have 4 hrs break instead you have 4hrs poa instead,
merc0447:
I use it to work more than 48hrs a week over a 17 week period, also keeps my hours down with POA and i get a shift every other saturday.
Do you have the option of using break instead ? - if yes - what’s the point of POA ?
Darby Flyer:
I know I am gonna sound thick, but what is the purpose of POA?
Its purpose is to enable the transport industry to comply with the 48 hour weekly maximum most other workers enjoy, it cleverley hides the fact that a large percentage of drivers do lots more than 48 hours every week, or to put it more succinctly they are in work and getting paid for more than 48 hours every week. If they didn’t then transport costs would rocket affecting everyone and just about every industry.
It is designed to protect the health and safety of workers, thats its official function, by limiting hours worked and requiring defined rest periods.
ROG:
if yes - what’s the point of POA ?
it enables you to maybe carry on driving without a break resetting your clock and costing you an extra half an hour on your day.
Mike-C:
ROG:
if yes - what’s the point of POA ?it enables you to maybe carry on driving without a break resetting your clock and costing you an extra half an hour on your day.
Ah yes, the extra 15 minute thing…
yer i do wonder why it does that, I waited a hour to be loaded, put it POA as I had only drove the vehicle to the loading bay after clocking on,about 10 minutes drive on the digi card (it is a big site) and it reset my drive time, but I hadn’t had any rest, does that mean I have a fresh slate and can do 4.5 hours drive or can I still only do 4 hours 20 mins even though the tacho says overwise?
also if you get caught out in a traffic jam or held up in traffic (ie an accident) is that classed as POA or over work? just another question that can put an arguement to rest
ebabes:
also if you get caught out in a traffic jam or held up in traffic (ie an accident) is that classed as POA or over work? just another question that can put an arguement to rest
If the vehicle is not actually moving then it will record what the mode has been set to
DIGIs might not record that mode until a certain time period has elapsed - others on here who use a digi can tell you what that period (in seconds) is
ebabes:
yer i do wonder why it does that, I waited a hour to be loaded, put it POA as I had only drove the vehicle to the loading bay after clocking on,about 10 minutes drive on the digi card (it is a big site) and it reset my drive time, but I hadn’t had any rest, does that mean I have a fresh slate and can do 4.5 hours drive or can I still only do 4 hours 20 mins even though the tacho says overwise?
The digital tachograph wrongly counts POA as rest and resets the driving time on the tachograph, but legally it means nothing.
If you do 10 minutes driving and then put the tachograph onto POA the driving time will be shown as reset but legally you can only do another 4 hours and 20 minutes driving before a 45 minute break.
So if you use POA a lot you would be wise to keep a record of your driving time.
ebabes:
also if you get caught out in a traffic jam or held up in traffic (ie an accident) is that classed as POA or over work? just another question that can put an arguement to rest
It’s other work 
tachograph:
ebabes:
also if you get caught out in a traffic jam or held up in traffic (ie an accident) is that classed as POA or over work? just another question that can put an arguement to restIt’s other work
Or break if you are sat there long enough and just past the time by resting.
ROG:
merc0447:
I use it to work more than 48hrs a week over a 17 week period, also keeps my hours down with POA and i get a shift every other saturday.Do you have the option of using break instead ? - if yes - what’s the point of POA ?
Not really ROG we get paid an hour’s break, if we need to use a second 45minute break to go into 10 hours driving that is also paid but nothing else is. Somedays i can have up to 3 hours on POA, id get hooked into the office if that was on break.
I much rather use break because POA sends your driver guard do lally but i can’t really.