Dont know whether this has been mentioned in here but here goes, i would like to know when adding my poa up at then end of my shift, is it after 15 min the p.o.a counts? say i was at a company for 30 min would my p.o.a be 15 min?
thanks
steve
POA is actuall whatever it is!! If you have 30 mins POA then its 30mins not 15. Unlke breaks there is no minimum time for POA you could book 5 mins POA if you wanted and it counts. I think thats what you where after?
I have a question that is in the same vein, that’s why I haven’t started another thread.
If I start work at 00.00, I should take a break of 30 mins at the latest by 06.00. But if during that period I have 120 mins of POA, does that now mean that I must take a break before 08.00. Or must I still take the break by 06.00 and just log the 120 mins on by daily sheet?
I have read on various sites the interpretation of POA, but none seem to answer this question. 
I did ask the instructors at work and there seems to be a bit of confusion and none of them are singing from the same hymn sheet, if you catch my drift. 
mafry64:
I have a question that is in the same vein, that’s why I haven’t started another thread.If I start work at 00.00, I should take a break of 30 mins at the latest by 06.00 doesnt have to be 30 minutes 15 will do . But if during that period I have 120 mins of POA, does that now mean that I must take a break before 08.00 thats correct . Or must I still take the break by 06.00 and just log the 120 mins on by daily sheet?
I have read on various sites the interpretation of POA, but none seem to answer this question.
I did ask the instructors at work and there seems to be a bit of confusion and none of them are singing from the same hymn sheet, if you catch my drift.
Stopped using poa afer about the second day i started driving!,a lot of the more experinced drivers dont use it either.Once ive left the yard in my truck im working and when im not im on a legal break, poa is ridiculous how some one can be available for work when they are already at work is just plain stupid! eg. your in work-wear,your miles away from home and YOUR responcible for a works truck from the moment it leaves the yard untill its return.Sitting in a RDC waiting area or your truck on so called poa is in reality a break,because you aint working your ‘resting’, also if you a salary-driver then if you declare your non-working time as poa then the nice man in the transport office is going to tally it all up and you will end up working even more hours for nothing! i aint on salary,im on hourly rate,im expect to be paid for every hour i work,salary pay just like poa is in my opinion just another way to screw the driver even more. 
chrisy boy:
Stopped using poa afer about the second day i started driving!,a lot of the more experinced drivers dont use it either.Once ive left the yard in my truck im working and when im not im on a legal break, poa is ridiculous how some one can be available for work when they are already at work is just plain stupid! eg. your in work-wear,
Not necessarily
chrisy boy:
your miles away from home
Not necessarily
chrisy boy:
and YOUR responcible for a works truck from the moment it leaves the yard untill its return.
But you may not have a truck to be responsible for or have left the yard for that matter
chrisy boy:
Sitting in a RDC waiting area or your truck on so called poa is in reality a break,
Not necessarily
chrisy boy:
because you aint working your ‘resting’,
So all waiting time is a rest period ?
chrisy boy:
also if you a salary-driver then if you declare your non-working time as poa then the nice man in the transport office is going to tally it all up and you will end up working even more hours for nothing! i aint on salary,im on hourly rate,im expect to be paid for every hour i work,
The firms I know pay for POA
chrisy boy:
salary pay just like poa is in my opinion just another way to screw the driver even more
Some salaried drivers I know are on well over £30K for a 48 hour easy week, I wish I was being screwed like that
POA can often and in my opinion should be used for the drivers benefit 
So when i turn up for work monday morning,in company uniform and clock on i dont come under the 1974 health and safety at work act,amongst other company regulations its poa not work ,even though im being paid from the moment i start? Also as ive got 3 drops to do,i really need a truck to drive as it comes in handy and as im the pilot im going to be working or is that poa as well? if i get to the first drop and im told its going to be 2 hrs before they can tip me,then i go and sit in the canteen or stay put,as no phyisical exertion is required surely thats like not working ie.‘resting’ but as im miles away from the yard and im an ambassader for the company,the uniform and the truck etc thats not being at work thats poa as well? got to say 30k a year sounds to good to be true if thats for turning up for work,not having to leave the yard,your right about it being an easy 48 hours mind,this wouldnt be one of those high paying shelf-stacking jobs that i hear so many drivers are going on about!
The problem here m8 is that you seem to be seeing POA only from the point of view of your current job, as an agency driver I’ve on more than one occasion got to work to be told that my load wouldn’t be ready for a while, If I’m told that I can’t do anything for an hour or two why not use POA especially If I’m working for a company that tracks hours for the WTD, two hours POA means two more hours I can work that week, If a driver is held up at a drop or collection and knows they can’t do anything four some time why not use POA, the same applies in the case of a lengthy breakdown, as long as you get paid for It I see no reason not to use POA to the drivers advantage, as far as £30k for a 48 hour week is concerned I’ve not said any driver gets that for not leaving the yard but there are jobs that pay that for work that’s not going to break any-ones back.
fair point,as an agency driver its works to your advantage an ive got to admit ive met a few drivers doing 30k,especially the self-employed ones.As an em-ployed driver though im not so sure.Very easy for the employer to take advantage of salary drivers,not all granted but some do,not mine by the way i did read somewhere that the T and G were opposed to it in its present form concerned about the possibility of being abused to increase working hours,putting presure on drivers etc. 
AS an agency driver, so paid all hours worked, possibly docked 45 minutes a day for legal driving breaks, how do you figure that poa is useless ■■
The more time you spend on poa, the more time you haven’t worked, which leaves more time available for more overtime 
Simon:
AS an agency driver, so paid all hours worked, possibly docked 45 minutes a day for legal driving breaks, how do you figure that poa is useless ■■
Chrisy Boy figures it is useless because he isn’t an agency driver, but is saying that he can see it is useful for those who are. He is saying as an emplyed driver it isn’t good for him.
Simon:
The more time you spend on poa, the more time you haven’t worked, which leaves more time available for more overtime
So in that vein you can spend 14 hours on POA and then do a 15 hour shift and be home for tea.
POA suits some jobs, it doesnt suit them all. Im the same I am either at work or Im not.
As an agency driver I have noticed that a lot of companys are taking the pee when it comes to POA. Ive see it a lot where there are signs all over the place stating that unless your driving or on break then you should set your tacho to POA. Well those of us that understand the regulationgs will know better.
Anyways I have a question & Im 99.9% sure the answer is No, Im on a loading bay & sitting in my cab whilst the trailer is being Loaded/Unloaded, I am unsure as to how long it will be “should I set my tacho to POA” . I dont as far as im concerned although I tecnically cannot do anything I am not available for work ie if the phone rang I cannot just drive off to my next job as the trailer is in use.
robntl:
Im on a loading bay & sitting in my cab whilst the trailer is being Loaded/Unloaded, I am unsure as to how long it will be “should I set my tacho to POA” . I dont as far as im concerned although I tecnically cannot do anything I am not available for work ie if the phone rang I cannot just drive off to my next job as the trailer is in use.
The key is you don’t know how long you are going to be so technically it isn’t POA. If you have been told how long, or you know from previous visits, then yes you could claim POA. If you get paid for breaks just stick it on that, it’s near enough the same as POA to make no difference, apart from the knowing in advance bit.
I’m on a weekly salery so I obviously dont get breaks deducted etc and can’t imagine ever working like that where you have to justify and catigorize every minute of your working day, that would drive me nuts. As far as mode changes go, I would never dream in a million years of sitting on a bay for 5 hours with my tacho ticking over on work, especially if I then had to pull onto the road and have a 45 minute break. Maybe some people like to work that way but I certainly do not, I like to get my job done and crack on with things, its just how I am. I would dread to think what would be said if I was somewhere for 5 hours and once I’d got tipped and loaded, told the company I pull for “sorry mate, I’ve got to have a 45 minute break”…I think I’d be kicked off the job within the week as working like that in the sector I’m in, is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
The one thing that gets me about all this, is that I remember say 10 years ago when I used to go with my dad as a boy during the summer and at any other opertunity and back then, the actual driving of the truck from A to B was the main job…now the main job seems to be finding the best way that regulations allow to do as little work as possible and filling in as much paperwork as possible to justify doing so. People will please themselves but its no small wonder that so many Poles and other nationalities find work here due to the fact that they actually have a work ethic, and usually a good one at that.
Hey eldor I know exactly where you coming from I to do prefer to make the most of my waiting time by slipping in a break whilst waiting, but im finding it inreasingly more common for drivers to do their drop & pull out & have a break. There are a lot of foreign drivers where I am currently working aswell as us brits but knowing exactly what the job entails a lot of waiting around i started to notice that I am getting on with the job at hand but noobody else is.
so over the last week or so Ive tried their attitude
When in rome do as they do
Unless I’ve missed something I don’t think anyone is suggesting that a break shouldn’t be taken on the bay m8, I always do that If I’m on that sort of job and suspect most other drivers do to.
Thanks to all, especially Jonboy that’s put my mind at rest and it means that I haven’t got the last years worth of tacho’s to worry about for infringements. 
The reason for the confusion in the first place was because I recently started using a timer DHG 02 that works out for you when you need to to stop to comply with the WTD ( I know it’s lazy )…Anyway stuck at a drop at Deal the other day, told 2 hrs at first, so POA, then at 2 hrs told another 4hrs so left it on POA. By now I had been on shift for coming up to 6 hrs, so at 6hrs shift time the DHG automatically changed itself to break. So i changed tacho to break and it made me think that pehaps since 2003 when it came in I had been doing it wrong… 
But now I realise I’ve been doing it right and the DHG got it wrong, back to logging times with a pen and paper…
And in my opinion for what it’s worth, poa is a pain, why not have just left it, either driving, on duty or break…Nice and simple…
I’m another non beleiver in POA .
I,m a non beleiver due to being a salaried driver