Sorry to bang on - I know this has been covered elsewhere, but I am none the wiser! My employer insists (which we all think is illegal) that we use POA when waiting on a bay to be loaded/tipped - we have no means of knowing how long that will be. The other night my POA ran over an hour, the driving time was reset to zero although I was still due a 30 minute break, I drove to our local yard to take my break, but in doing so used up 20 minutes of my next four and a half driving slot, which meant I was short the other end and had to take another break. Advice please!! 
You can only use POA if you know the duration in advance either through being told or through experience, It always takes an hour here for example. If you don’t know the time in advance then it cannot be POA so you could use break instead. Personally I never use POA and just use break, if a period qualifies as POA then it qualifies as break as well.
Using break probably wouldn’t have helped your second problem though although if you had used break you could have began your new 4.5 hour period when you left and that may have meant you did not need to go to the local yard.
The digi tacho incorrectly counts POA as break so will reset the driving timer after 45 minutes of POA but this hasn’t actually reset your 4.5 hour calculation. When you drove the 20 minutes to take your break at your local yard those 20 minutes were still part of your previous 4.5 hour driving period and were not from the next, in spite of what the digi tacho said. When you completed that break you still had all of the next 4.5 hours available to you and you didn’t have to take another break, unless you reached 4.5 hours from that 30 minute break which seems according to what you say you didn’t.
The only way round it would have been to stick the tacho on other work before the POA reached 45 minutes. That would not have reset the 4.5 hour period on the VDU, but it doesn’t matter as long as you keep track of your 4.5 hour periods, ignore the digi and can put up with it nagging you to take a break when you don’t need one.
muddyfox2:
Sorry to bang on - I know this has been covered elsewhere, but I am none the wiser! My employer insists (which we all think is illegal) that we use POA when waiting on a bay to be loaded/tipped - we have no means of knowing how long that will be. The other night my POA ran over an hour, the driving time was reset to zero although I was still due a 30 minute break, I drove to our local yard to take my break, but in doing so used up 20 minutes of my next four and a half driving slot, which meant I was short the other end and had to take another break. Advice please!!
Legally for POA you should know how long you will be waiting otherwise it’s not POA so your boss is wrong, use break instead as long as it won’t affect your wages.
The digital tachograph will reset the driving time after 45 minutes of POA but this is incorrect programming in the digital tachograph and can be ignored.
If you’re using POA it’s quite important to keep a track of your driving time otherwise the digital tachograph will have you having unnecessary breaks as you found out the other night.
The fact that the driving time is reset at 45 minutes of POA or that 15 minutes of POA will be added to your taken breaks according to the digital tachograph does not affect your right to drive for 4.5 hours before requiring a 45 minute break.
To print off for your boss -
RT(WTD)R guide POA see 2.3
hope this helps
muddyfox2:
Sorry to bang on - I know this has been covered elsewhere, but I am none the wiser! My employer insists (which we all think is illegal) that we use POA when waiting on a bay to be loaded/tipped - we have no means of knowing how long that will be. The other night my POA ran over an hour, the driving time was reset to zero although I was still due a 30 minute break, I drove to our local yard to take my break, but in doing so used up 20 minutes of my next four and a half driving slot, which meant I was short the other end and had to take another break. Advice please!!
if you used 20 mins of your second driving period going to your local yard, you probally didnt need 30 min break because you have already had a 45min break before you started driving to the yard and that would have left you with 4.5 driving time or 6 hours work
Thanks guys one and all - useful advice! The trick to keep boss and digi happy seems to be to take it off POA at about 40 minutes and put it back on if necessary - that way happy boss and no flashing digi! Thanks again.
muddyfox2:
Thanks guys one and all - useful advice! The trick to keep boss and digi happy seems to be to take it off POA at about 40 minutes and put it back on if necessary - that way happy boss and no flashing digi! Thanks again.
I think if you do that then the digi will still reset the driving time as I think it will assume it has recorded a split tacho break ■■? - someone in the know will confirm this is correct - or not !!
If you book 40 minutes poa the tacbo wii see it as a 30 minute break and will reset the driving time aftrr a further 15 minute break.
tachograph:
If you book 40 minutes poa the tacbo wii see it as a 30 minute break and will reset the driving time aftrr a further 15 minute break.
would that also be true for a further 15 mins POA ?
Yes ROG.
tachograph:
Yes ROG.
Thank you 
ROG:
tachograph:
If you book 40 minutes poa the tacbo wii see it as a 30 minute break and will reset the driving time aftrr a further 15 minute break.would that also be true for a further 15 mins POA ?
Jesus, how many times has this been covered and you are still asking that question? You must have asked that more times than all the other posters put together. How come you can’t remember it?