i am a little confused over a example i had seen from some mag about this 6 hour thing, they were stating that if one spends say 3 hours loading the truck then drive for a further 3 hours you then must take a break of one hour, because i have been confused for some time over this i have just after every four and a half hours taken 45mins or sometimes a 15 then 30 within the four and a half, however the other day i had been pushed for time had come a fair distance to southampton was getting close to three and a half so took the 15 hoping i could squeeze the 30 in whilst awaiting the removal of the container within the docks unfortunately for me that day was a quick day at the docks and the container was removed after just 20 mins! as i then had to keep moving the truck around from one lot of button pressing to the other! and after finally getting out the docks i was then on 5 hours so i had done the bulk of the driving first only taken 15mins with then much of stop start driving, i decided to take one hour at the services as hopefully i could take the break without having to move! which i did so never exceeded the 6 hour total, as there was at no point any continuous driving over four and a half hours and the other bits i was “loading or unloading” hopefully i have not done anything wrong, i am of course wanting to keep legal as one gets no thanks for not being legal, but find sometimes that having to stop after every four and a half hours is not always beneficial what confuses me, is i take it that the three hours of loading one might do can be mixed in with the 3 hours driving one might do in the 6 hour period! confused yeh i am! please lets have some un complicated answers from some that know more than me! perhaps it might be easier to just stick with 45 after four and a half!
Your answers please!
5hrs driving with a 15min break, illegal.
Do a print out, point out that you were in the docks and it probably wasn’t 5hrs at all, bloody tacho’s adding 2 and 1 mins on everytime you move.
If nobody pulls you in next 28 days, hand it in to your firm / agency as you would an analogue tacho.
4.5hrs driving requires a 45 min break - BUT over 6hrs work and you must have 30 mins, most people try and incorporate these together, ie a 15 min break and then a 30 which clears up the drive time and the wtd.
It’s more for people that do a lot of labour when not driving, removals, general haulage etc, but affects us all.
the 3 hours loading was you manually doing it yourself or sat in your truck watching someone else doing it?? stick it on break,i do,then hop on the bunk for a snooze perfectly legal 
you “can” also stick it on break if you are actually loading it yourself but i dont condone this sort of behaviour as its against the rules and your wrists can be slapped!! 
Are you using a digital tachograph or analogue ?
From what you’ve said I’m not sure if you are counting only driving time or the waiting time as well, if you did 5 hours driving with only a 15 minute break then you can expect an infringement for not having the proper breaks
At or before reaching six hours working time you should have a break of at least 15 minutes, the first part of a driving break will count for this as long as it’s taken before exceeding 6 hours work.
melvyn bragg:
Your answers please!
Sorry mate but I’m not sure what the question is, if you could be more specific about what you need to know you will get plenty of help here but you will need to ask a question before it can be answered
Perhaps you could tell us what type of tachograph you’re using, digital or analogue, and did you do 5 hours actual driving before having the 30 minute break or was the 5 hours including other work.
Writing on OH behalf it is analogue, thank you for your help.
you are doing far too much thinking.
get to your drop/collection within 4.5 hours driving, leave your tacho on rest for 45 minutes, then move it to other work for say 10 minutes, then back to bed. it might look like you give a [zb] about the regs.
i told my old boss i did this, but i still took my break when i wanted. he was happy about it.
the way i see it, there is a break to show you abide by the regulations, and there is a proper break where you want it. sometimes these are at the same time, sometimes not.
If you smoke, grab your lighter and set fire to that magazine, if not borrow some matches.
Drivers hours regs are fairly simple, 4.5hrs driving requires 45 minutes break, which can only be taken as a 15+30 or a complete 45minutes. Forget the RTD until you get the hang of the basics, if you are sticking to these regulations trust me, and others you will be fairly close to being correct for the RTD. No one has been jailed for exceeding the RTD 
The RTD requires;
That mobile workers should not work more than 6 consecutive hours without taking a break.
Unlike the existing 561/2006 EU drivers’ hours rules, breaks can be divided up into 3 x 15 minute intervals.
while we’re on the topic of digi’s, it seems i cant get a ‘full shift’ print at the end of day. I have to do 2 prints, 1st from 2100-0000 and then 0000-finish. I’m sure i was able to do this before but cant remember. Is there a way i can get round this or will i have to continue doing 4 seperate one’s each night,2 for my records n 2 for TM? Digi is a Stoneridge on rental Scania and to be honest,i’ll be glad when it goes back…hopefully tonight!! I can hear Rob-kipedia and a few of his fan club on there way over as i type 
Actrosman:
while we’re on the topic of digi’s, it seems i cant get a ‘full shift’ print at the end of day. I have to do 2 prints, 1st from 2100-0000 and then 0000-finish. I’m sure i was able to do this before but cant remember. Is there a way i can get round this or will i have to continue doing 4 seperate one’s each night,2 for my records n 2 for TM? Digi is a Stoneridge on rental Scania and to be honest,i’ll be glad when it goes back…hopefully tonight!! I can hear Rob-kipedia and a few of his fan club on there way over as i type
Your shift covers two calendar days and when you print a day it prints from 00:00 - 24:00, there isn’t a print shift option.
A more important question is why does the TM require printouts? Not legally required and pointless.
waynedl:
4.5hrs driving requires a 45 min break - BUT over 6hrs work and you must have 15 mins
Fixed that for you.
Coffeeholic:
waynedl:
4.5hrs driving requires a 45 min break - BUT over 6hrs work and you must have 15 minsFixed that for you.
Thought it was 15 mins AT 6hrs, 6-9 required 30?
Sure that’s what you said last time 
I obviously have 2 for myself but as to why tm wants 2…who knows 
. Incidentally, when the WTD came into effect ‘all those years ago’, we were told (when i was on the rigids doing multi-drop) that, if starting at 6am, we would need 30 mins break at 12:00pm and another 30mins at 3pm. The good thing about m-d was we only did about 3 hrs driving over 9 or 10 hrs of work. I think the problem was with too many numpty tm’s misinterpreting the rules and feeding drivers duff info which now leads to some people thinking they know the rules ‘cuz tm said so’ and then falling fowl of the law cuz they actually don’t…a case of close, but no cigar!
Actrosman:
I obviously have 2 for myself
I have to ask. Why obviously? Unless you need to write something on the printout to explain a deviation from the rules or to correct something there is no need to, under normal operation, take a printout.
Actrosman:
Incidentally, when the WTD came into effect ‘all those years ago’, we were told (when i was on the rigids doing multi-drop) that, if starting at 6am, we would need 30 mins break at 12:00pm and another 30mins at 3pm.
Yeah, there was a lot of BS such as this when the WTD first came into force, and after all this time you still get Numpties and Muppets, such as Conor on here, spouting this nonsense.