I asked this in a thread elsewhere, but didn’t get much in the way of replies, so please forgive me for asking again here:
I’ve only just got my full licence, and have signed on with a local agency. I’ve already had my first proper drive (and make a right ■■■■-up of the tacho stuff, but that’s part of the learning curve ). I suppose I can reasonably expect to fit in one driving job every week or so, as I have no intention right now of packing in my regular job.
I know (now) that my regular job should be classed as “Other Work”, and so will have a significant effect on daily and weekly rest periods. Obviously I’m going to have to keep a record of these hours in case I get stopped by police or caught up in a Ministry check.
But how to do this? I had considered acquiring a supply of tacho charts and manually recording my “day job” as Other Work, but how do others here manage this? My position is made slightly more complicated because my regular employment is on full rotating shifts, rather than ESSO or even regular days.
Why not just buy a cheap diary & record your working hours there.
The VOSA would probably prefer a non loose leaf record, & if the record includes your companies name address & contact number, they would probably view it as “good practise” & give you less scrutiny as a result.
I do a variety of jobs for a variety of people & it’s how I work & I find they treat you well if you can be seen to want to do things in a transparent manner.
I have never been told “we would rather” or “don’t do it that way”, they just look, see that every job tallies with a tacho & the number on both the rear of the tacho & the diary relates to a name, address & telephone number in my diary & send me on my way.
In my exsperience of the VOSA, if you can show you have nothing to hide & are trying to do it properly then they have others who don’t, who deserve thier time & attention more than you.
If you are only working p/t you don’t need much.
For odd days I carry a few pairs of gloves, a map, a drivers hours timer, some tissues (which also acts as stand in toilet paper), some wet wipes, a small camera, tachos pens, a safety vest, paracetamol, pro plus for nights, a cheap diary /notebook some money & a wallet & phone.
I also choose to carry a small first aid kit with rescusiade (spelling ?) & gloves.
It all fits into a small back pack with food & drink.
If I then spend a single night out I add sleeping bag, toilet bag & a few more eats.
For certain types of work I also take a safety hat simply because I hate wearing other peoples
You will not need loads of stuff with you.
I wear those so I don’t carry them, but something I did miss off was in winter I carry a head torch thing, I don’t know what the zb they should be called, but they are a torch which strap to your head leaving your hands free.
Great little things, makes life a lot easier if you are working in a dark yard, or want to check something at the road side.
I can’t wear them to drive to work, as it’s virtually impossible to hit the brake in my car without hitting the accelerator and vice-versa…
daxi:
but something I did miss off was in winter I carry a head torch thing, I don’t know what the zb they should be called, but they are a torch which strap to your head leaving your hands free.
). I suppose I can reasonably expect to fit in one driving job every week or so, as I have no intention right now of packing in my regular job.
