Reduced Rest Period.. Mandatory or NOT?

ASK THE EXPERTS SAFETY, LAW AND WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE FORUM (INTE
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It would be a good day for everyone if someone (vosa, perhaps) would give us the regulations in laymans terms instead of almost impossible to understand jargon. My question is this… We all know that we are allowed to do 3 x 15’s in a week. We all know that we can reduce our rest period from 11 to 9. But can the company you drive for INSIST that you extend or reduce?? My understanding is that the decision rests with the driver, but my company virtually say that you do your 15, reduce rest to 9, or out you go! Does anyone know where this is carved in stone so that i can shove it into my transport managers face once and for all. Any advice would be really appreciated. Oh, by the way, Hi to all. This is my first time. Sorry to enrol with a winge!!

Peejay :unamused:

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:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: Welcome peejay1951 :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

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peejay1951:
It would be a good day for everyone if someone (vosa, perhaps) would give us the regulations in laymans terms instead of almost impossible to understand jargon.

The EU wrote them and the UK has done what they can to put them across without changing the meaning - got that from one of our site tacho GURUs :wink: :smiley:

peejay1951:
We all know that we can reduce our rest period from 11 to 9. But can the company you drive for INSIST that you extend or reduce??

We had a discussion on that not long ago - HERE

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peejay1951:
It would be a good day for everyone if someone (vosa, perhaps) would give us the regulations in laymans terms instead of almost impossible to understand jargon. My question is this… We all know that we are allowed to do 3 x 15’s in a week. We all know that we can reduce our rest period from 11 to 9.

You seem a little confused. The reason you can do a 15 three times a week is because you can reduce your daily rest to 9 hours. It doesn’t state anywhere in the regulations the length of the working day, it only lays down the amount of rest required in the 24-hour period which begins when you start work after a rest period. This is normally 11 hours, leaving you 13 hours in the 24 for your shift. You can reduce this to 9 three times between weekly rest periods, note that is different to three times a week, which leaves you 15 hours for your shift.

peejay1951:
But can the company you drive for INSIST that you extend or reduce?? My understanding is that the decision rests with the driver, but my company virtually say that you do your 15, reduce rest to 9, or out you go

Technically they aren’t insisting anything here because as soon as you work more than 13 hours, even by just one minute you are automatically on a reduced rest period due to the fact there are no longer 11 hours left in the 24-hour period.

As far as the tacho regulations go the company are required to schedule the work so it complies with the regulations. If you have a reduced rest available, which you must have if you have worked 15 hours, then they are not breaking any rules by scheduling you to resume work 9 hours after finishing. However, if you feel you would be too tired to resume work then, you told them so and they still insisted they would be leaving themselves on very dodgy ground should you have an accident.

Legally they can ask you to reduce but only you know if you are able to do so and be fit to drive.

peejay1951:
Does anyone know where this is carved in stone so that i can shove it into my transport managers face once and for all.

You won’t be able to, the only thing you can do is tell them you are too tired and it comes down to whether they accept that or show you the door.

peejay1951:
Oh, by the way, Hi to all. This is my first time. Sorry to enrol with a winge!!

Peejay :unamused:

Hi and welcome

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As per another thread this is a CONTRACTUAL issue drivers hours,WTD are totally irrelevant. If you have signed a contract of employment you need to check if there is a clause contained in it allowing your company to operate this way. If no contract has been issued (used to be necessary to issue one inside 13 weeks) within a specified time your company is acting illegally and would be on dodgy ground. Relevant to this is your length of employment with the company?

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Among this and many other recent threads, the same question has been asked and answered many times and my honourable friend Lord Hobbs as usual has given a totally correct answer :stuck_out_tongue:

However I wonder what the response of a company would be if the excuse that you were too tired kept cropping up every week. Would they be organising medical examinations and blood tests for all the staff and filtering them out as unable to do the job? After all most job applications ask if you have any medical problems such as Asthma, Hypertension, Heart Disease or even breathing difficulties, no one would answer these in the negative if they were suffering would they?

Maybe the reason the driver is always tired is because of sleep apnoea or drug use either through prescription or illegal substances. Maybe the user has a blood sugar disorder or Diabetes which could result in loss of a vocational licence.

That is why I have said in previous posts I would rather have a 9 hour break in my cab then an 11 hour break at home. For me, I sleep better :wink: