Hi all. Just after your thoughts on a query about reduced weekly rests. Basically my boss is of the opinion that I can work this Saturday as well as last Saturday due to the fact I had the week off leading up to last Saturday, but I don’t think he’s correct. Can anyone confirm either way? My work pattern has been/will be:
Normal mon-fri working up to…
Thurs 24/12 6am-2pm
Holiday
Sat 2/1 5am-3pm
Sunday off
Mon 4/1 5.30-4.45pm
Tues 5/1 5.30-4.45pm
Weds 6/1 5.15-4.45pm
Thurs 7/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
Fri 8/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
So am I clear to work Saturday 9th, before going back to normal mon-fri weeks from the 11th?
Not looking for excuses to not work it, I want to, but want to stay legal obviously and I don’t think this is but my boss disagrees. I was fairly confident in my knowledge on driving hours, but as my boss has not long come off the road he’s made me doubt myself!
Thanks in advance for your input chaps.
I see why you’re questioning it, but I think this is right (but I’ll gladly hold my hands up if it’s garbage!)
Firstly, there is no “split weekly rest”, its either a full 45hrs +, or a reduced rest of 24hrs for anything shorter.
As you started work on the Saturday, the Sunday off would be a long daily rest. I don’t think there would be any legal reason why you couldn’t declare that Saturday to be your working week, and so count it as a weekly rest if you wanted (the law says when you must take a rest, not when you can, if you see what I mean). But as it’s less than 45hrs, it would be a reduced rest.
If you do use it as weekly rest, then you must start your next weekly rest period no later than the end of 6 consecutive 24 hour periods from the end of the last weekly rest period - so you could work the Saturday as its the sixth day.
But, as you’ll return to work on Monday, that’s not 45 hrs either, so this would be another reduced weekly rest, and you can’t have two reductions back-to-back, the fact that you haven’t worked anywhere near the maximum permitted hours between would be irrelevant.
If you use your Sunday off as a daily rest, then you should have started your weekly rest at the close of play on Thursday evening.
Edit again: Didn’t realise you had like a big holiday. Thought you’d only had the Friday off 
Edit: You can do this. (Providing you have the next monday off. See below for detail)
Ignoring your Holiday on that Friday, Sunday is your rest day after 6 days on. That’s a reduced weekly rest. Now I could be wrong but you can do ANOTHER 6 days on, but then need 2 days off. I think in terms of rest a week is what you make of it, not the legally defined version of a week (Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59).
So you can work Saturday but not the following Monday (11/01/2016). (Obviously not Sunday either)
I might be wrong but yes you can work but after end of duty saturday the 9th you need a 45 rest before you start again and then compensate in week 3 for the shortfall on the 2nd
Thanks for the replies. I think I understand what you’re getting at. So the only way I could do it would be if I had 45 hours off after working this Saturday? If that’s the case then that doesn’t achieve anything in terms of getting more work done (although it does boost my bank balance!) so my boss isn’t going to go for that option.
… Feeling of mild smugness as it would seem I was right though 
The boss is correct i’m afraid.
Ziltoid:
Normal mon-fri working up to…
Thurs 24/12 6am-2pm
Holiday
Sat 2/1 5am-3pm
Sunday off
Mon 4/1 5.30-4.45pm
Tues 5/1 5.30-4.45pm
Weds 6/1 5.15-4.45pm
Thurs 7/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
Fri 8/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
You had a regular 45 hour weekly rest period last week (holiday) then worked on Saturday, the reduced weekly rest period on Sunday (3/1/16) allowed you to start a new six periods of 24 hours (new working week)…
You can work on Saturday 9/1/16 then have a reduced weekly rest period on Sunday.
Either the reduced weekly rest period this coming Sunday or the one last Sunday will need to be compensated for, you can choose whichever leaves the least compensation to pay.
The compensation for one of the reduced weekly rest periods will need to be paid back by midnight on Sunday 31/1/16.
edit: Edited because I forgot we’re now in 2016 not 2015 
Ziltoid:
Thanks for the replies. I think I understand what you’re getting at. So the only way I could do it would be if I had 45 hours off after working this Saturday?
Sorry but that’s wrong, you only need to have a reduced weekly rest period this weekend 
tachograph:
Ziltoid:
Normal mon-fri working up to…
Thurs 24/12 6am-2pm
Holiday
Sat 2/1 5am-3pm
Sunday off
Mon 4/1 5.30-4.45pm
Tues 5/1 5.30-4.45pm
Weds 6/1 5.15-4.45pm
Thurs 7/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
Fri 8/1 5.30-4.45pm (estimated)
You had a regular 45 hour weekly rest period last week (holiday) then worked on Saturday, the reduced weekly rest period on Sunday (3/1/16) allowed you to start a new six periods of 24 hours (new working week)…
You can work on Saturday 9/1/16 then have a reduced weekly rest period on Sunday.
Either the reduced weekly rest period this coming Sunday or the one last Sunday will need to be compensated for, you can choose whichever leaves the least compensation to pay.
The compensation for one of the reduced weekly rest periods will need to be paid back by midnight on Sunday 31/1/16.
edit: Edited because I forgot we’re now in 2016 not 2015
Thanks tachograph. I was hoping you might chip in, being the authority on this round these parts! That sounds OK - compensating for a reduced weekly rest isn’t a problem as after this weekend I’ll go back to my normal routine of finishing between 4 and 5 on Friday afternoon then back in at 5.30 on Monday morning.
The example at the top of page 23 here seems to be a similar scenario: LINK TO GV262
I think the issue is I thought 2 consecutive weeks contained 2 weekly rests, whereas they actually contain 3 (the one before week 1, the one before week 2, and the one after week 2). Or have I missed the point completely again? [emoji15]
Ziltoid:
The example at the top of page 23 here seems to be a similar scenario: LINK TO GV262
I think the issue is I thought 2 consecutive weeks contained 2 weekly rests, whereas they actually contain 3 (the one before week 1, the one before week 2, and the one after week 2). Or have I missed the point completely again? [emoji15]
No you haven’t misunderstood the example on page 23
The example shown on page 23 is very similar to your situation this week, the example on page 23 shows how you can in some circumstances have only reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends,
A regular weekly rest period is shown at the start of week 1 that counts for week 1
A reduced weekly rest period is shown at both the start and end of week 2, either can count for week 2.
A regular weekly rest period is shown at the end of week 3 that will count for week 3.
Therefore both weeks 1 and 3 have regular weekly rest periods associated to them and only week 2 has a reduced weekly rest period.
In your situation, although you’re having reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends you also had a regular weekly rest period that counted for last week (the last 45 hours of the holiday), so only this week has only a reduced weekly rest period associated to it, next week you’ll be back to normal anyway with a regular weekly rest period at the end of the week.
tachograph:
Ziltoid:
The example at the top of page 23 here seems to be a similar scenario: LINK TO GV262
I think the issue is I thought 2 consecutive weeks contained 2 weekly rests, whereas they actually contain 3 (the one before week 1, the one before week 2, and the one after week 2). Or have I missed the point completely again? [emoji15]
No you haven’t misunderstood the example on page 23
The example shown on page 23 is very similar to your situation this week, the example on page 23 shows how you can in some circumstances have only reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends,
A regular weekly rest period is shown at the start of week 1 that counts for week 1
A reduced weekly rest period is shown at both the start and end of week 2, either can count for week 2.
A regular weekly rest period is shown at the end of week 3 that will count for week 3.
Therefore both weeks 1 and 3 have regular weekly rest periods associated to them and only week 2 has a reduced weekly rest period.
In your situation, although you’re having reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends you also had a regular weekly rest period that counted for last week (the last 45 hours of the holiday), so only this week has only a reduced weekly rest period associated to it, next week you’ll be back to normal anyway with a regular weekly rest period at the end of the week.
Excellent explanation, I get it now. Many many thanks!
tachograph:
The example shown on page 23 is very similar to your situation this week, the example on page 23 shows how you can in some circumstances have only reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends,
I have reduced weekly rest periods on two consecutive weekends around once a month, by my understanding it is legal and my tachograph analysis software seems to agree. The rest requirements relate to fixed weeks, not to “every weekend”. So a long rest period straddling the weekend at the beginning of Week 1 and the end of Week 3 means that you can take a reduced rest on both weekends in between.
Harry Monk:
tachograph:
The example shown on page 23 is very similar to your situation this week, the example on page 23 shows how you can in some circumstances have only reduced weekly rest periods on 2 consecutive weekends,
I have reduced weekly rest periods on two consecutive weekends around once a month, by my understanding it is legal and my tachograph analysis software seems to agree. The rest requirements relate to fixed weeks, not to “every weekend”. So a long rest period straddling the weekend at the beginning of Week 1 and the end of Week 3 means that you can take a reduced rest on both weekends in between.
Yes I agree, as in the OPs case the example we’re talking about on page 23 of the DVSA booklet happens to show weekly rest periods at weekends but the weekly rest periods are associated with fixed weeks.
As you say if you have a long rest period that crosses Sunday midnight it can be used as back to back weekly rest periods for both weeks, in some circumstances a 69 hour rest period will do as a back to back reduced weekly rest and a regular weekly rest, or a rest period of 90 hours that crosses Sunday midnight will count as a regular weekly rest period for both weeks.
Therefore if for instance you have a 90 rest period that crosses midnight Sunday it will count as a regular weekly rest period for week 1 and the previous week, you could then have reduced weekly rest periods the following 2 weekends and start a regular weekly rest period before midnight Sunday of week 3.
The same can apply to a rest period of 69 hours in certain circumstances.