I know this thing has been covered on the forum and there’s loads of info on Google, but my question is quite specific.
When I did cpc drivers hours course the instructor made a big deal about your work and rest period needs to add up to 24 hours for each and to think it like a full circle that needs to be full before you move to the next.
Ie if I start at work 6am one day, the next period can’t start until 6am the next day.
But, what if I started at 6am, finished at 8pm (14 hours) and then took 9 hours off and started at 5am the following day…is that allowed even though this 24 hour period thing isn’t complete because I’ve started work an hour earlier than the previous day?
I believe your working periods are 24 hour blocks governed by rest periods your next block doesn’t have to start 24hours exactly after your earlier one.
I.e.start first 24block 6am work 12 hours , 11 hours rest, start next one 5am.
Work permitting I’ve had 14 hour rests that have only counted as a 9 due to working over 13 hours in that block.
A new period of 24 starts after you complete a 11 hour or 9 hour daily rest even if the new period of 24 starts within 24 hours of your last. So starting at 5am in your example is legal.
The rules is that sufficient legal rest must be completed within 24 hours of ending the previous rest period
This is legal
End weekly rest period 6am
6am to 7pm shift
7pm to 4am rest = 9 hours reduced daily rest
4am to 4pm shift
4pm to 2am rest = 10 hours reduced daily rest
2am to 1pm shift
1pm to midnight = 11 hours regular daily rest
midnight to … etc
Next weekly rest period must start no later than 144 hours from the end of the last weekly rest period no matter how many shifts are done in that time - what confuses many is 6x24 which = 144
The term WITHIN means inside so as long as the daily rest fits inside 24 hours from ending the last rest period be it a daily or weekly one thats ok
In answer to the OPs question - yes this would be OK.
I am hoping what you have told us the CPC instructor said isn’t what he actually said. He was right to point out the 24 hour day as this is a common misunderstanding causing drivers to ■■■■ up their daily rest and reduce too many times.
Having said that - I have come across this advice being given out in CPC courses before where the trainer clearly didn’t fully understand the regulations.
As a single manned driver any daily rest you take must be within the 24 hour period that began when your last rest ended. Once you have had the minimum required rest, you can start a new 24 hour day. So start 06:00, finish 17:00, start again 02:00 would be fine. That is a 9 hour reduced rest. The driver wouldn’t need to wait until 06:00 before starting again.
But - start 06:00, finish 21:00 and start again 08:00 doesn’t mean you had 11 hours rest as the time after 06:00 is outside the 24 hour day and doesn’t count.
Remember if a shift happens to stray even just 1 minute over a 13 hour shift this automatically makes it a reduced daily rest as you can’t fit the 11 hours rest into the 24 hour “circle” - and if your shift is over 15hr this obviously means a infringement as again you can’t fit a 9 hour rest into the 24 hours
Was the CPC guy on about doing a 10hr drive in 11.30hr day then having 9hr off and driving again so doing more then 10hrs drive in a 24hr period or am I losing the plot now…
Thanks for replies, you have all cleared it up for me. I understand it now.
To be honest I do know the instructor knows his stuff. It was a while ago when I first passed my test so it’s a bit of a blur exactly what he was saying and I probably got confused being really new. Based on what has been said in the replies I guess this 24 hour period that I remember him banging on about was that your daily work plus your daily rest can’t add up to more than 24 hours. I was confusing it thinking the daily work plus daily rest HAD to add up to 24 hours.
