i’ve recentley been taken on by a large retail company on class 2, after 6 months working through the agency. my problem relates to tachos and time sheets. the company is very busy, as all are, but only recentley drivers are having to leave work early due to running out of hours. driving hours arn’t a problem, but i’ve run out of working hours on a number of occasions and had to go home. anyway, in the office today i had 2 supervisors telling me i could work 3 hours over my 60 hour week as long as it’s ‘paid back’ the following week. i know all working and driving time rules and know that this is rubbish. obviousley i’m concerned about going over my hours. if anything happens i wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. the question i’ve got relates to tachos and time sheets. on our payslips we are only deducted 30 mins, no matter the hours worked in that day. the only explaination for this is that they know drivers only stop for about 30 mins during the day.( we all come back to base to reload our trucks). of course these payslips and records could not be legal records as you require 45 after 9 hours work. but of course our tachos are put on rest for 45 mins. (sorry if this is dragging on). our tachos are scanned and that is sent directlly to the ‘fta’. my tacho tends to stay on break for about an hour.
anyway i suppose my question is this. if there was ever a serious incident, or vosa wanted my records, would’nt there port of call be the fta for my tacho records? if this was the case i’m fine and under my 60 hours (as i record an hours break each day, making up these extra hours). or would they be looking at company payslips?
In the past I have known VOSA, police and traffic commissioner’s office apply for warrants to seize pay slips, company accounts, time sheets, etc.
The only advice to follow seems to be to cover your back by sticking rigidly to the rules. If you don’t do anything wrong, you can’t be done for anything.
VOSA have often checked time sheets and/or clock cards against tacho records if they do a site visit after suspecting that all was not right
The tacho records must reasonably match timesheet/clock cards
Getting extra hours paid, but not worked, as a bonus is not the same thing
The RTD max 60 actual working hours (not shift hours) per week rule is not currently enforced by any authority - in fact I doubt many companies actually do enforce that
Just as a warning, matey, be wary of your tacho recording “break” when you are actually doing “other work”. It’s a long shot, but it has been known for the prosecuting authority to gather evidence in covert ways in order to obtain a conviction. Rog will be better able to advise you on whether this still happens.
so from what you’ve said rog, ‘getting extra hours paid, but not worked, a bonus is not the same thing’, it sounds like i’m in the clear. as my tachos are showing my true hours (with an hours break), and the payslips (with half an hour) are just showing a bonus. is this right?
so as long as if i’m showing an hour on my tacho, this is what’s taken off my working time, and the half hour on my timesheet is’nt relavent as this is just a bonus. is that right then guys??
My personal opinion is that so long as my tacho hours are ok - my employer can pay me for as many hours as they want.
I have had an agency who paid me an extra 2 hours on top of a 15 because of the 30 mile travel to where the truck was. In fact we were paid for 15 even if it took less. My last employer paid us from the start of the day to the end with no deductions for breaks so we could easily be paid 15 hours for a 15 hour day.
ten4rubberduckie:
so from what you’ve said rog, ‘getting extra hours paid, but not worked, a bonus is not the same thing’, it sounds like i’m in the clear. as my tachos are showing my true hours (with an hours break), and the payslips (with half an hour) are just showing a bonus. is this right?
Yes that is fine
You could clock in at 0600 and out at 1900 - take a 2 hour break at luchtime on the tacho with the payslip showing a 30 min break but as long as the tacho shows start and end of duty at 0600 and 1900 then thats fine
What VOSA look for is a difference in the start and end of duty time between the clock card and tacho records
What the company decide to pay you for between the start and finish time is of no concern to VOSA
If the company add 3 hours to your finish time as a bonus then the company must make that clear otherwise the tacho and company time records will not match
Agency drivers sometimes have different payslip hours than tacho recorded hours as they may be guaranteed 8 hours but only work 6 for example but VOSA can accertain that by contacting the agency if they ever wish to go that far
Be careful tipping on break, you need to show somewhere that you’ve loaded tipped etc, try and show atleast 5mins before and after being tipped as other work as you can always say they do it for you. If you have 3 signed cmrs showing either collection or delievery but you havnt shown any other work its going to be difficult to explain.
