Hi my sister in-law drives a van for a haulage company on a zero hours contract, she also drives for another company, both companies are 100% legal on hours etc, I told her she can’t drive for both companies in the same day without a rest period separating both shifts can anyone point me to the correct link to show her what she’s doing is illegal.
Neither company knows she’s already driven/worked prior to their shift start.
Wouldn’t it depend on the amount of hours she is working in a day/week?
Van drivers are supposed to run on domestic hours, but hardly policed!
There would be no need for a daily rest between 2 different jobs in a day if she isn’t doing excessive hours.
No required set rest or break periods on domestic regs
If both jobs are under domestic regs then there must be no more than 10 hours driving or more than 11 hours working in any 24 hours
I believe they both come under domestic regs, she smashing the hours though, she’s doing a minimum 8hrs of duty at one place and between 6-8 at the other (this isn’t everyday, not that, that makes it ok). I can’t be 100% sure on the amount of driving but it’ll be over 10hrs.
It’ll be fine. 
I also drive a van but I only drive a couple of hours most days, sometimes as much as 5 hours on a long day, so she’s just using up my left over driving hours. No different from giving someone your unexpired parking meter ticket is it? 
I’d be surprised if it ever got picked up unless she has an accident and gets investigated by the cops. Even then she’s unlikely to get caught.
Well in my experience of van driving, there were no rules in place on the ammount of hours a company would expect you to be driving for, Domestic rules,lol don’t make me laugh,Used to do 18-20hr stints doing deeside -brondby-stand nr copenhagen and back several times a week, would usually get there around 1-2am, get some sleep, across the seats , tip at around 8am , then have to wait until late afternoon to get return load,
I’m not saying it was great, but that is the way it was and probably still is, we would try and grab some sleep on ferries , i got what must of been 3 hrs on the calais to dover once due to bad weather , i didn’t feel a thing ,
But there where times that you got so tired you had to stop , sometimes several times en route for a coffee and a short walk,which would keep you going for an hour or two,If i so tiered i couldn’t keep my eyes open or focus on driving , i would just park at the next safe place i could find and go to sleep, sometimes only a power nap occasionally for 5-6hrs woken by the works phone,with the office bod asking if i was there yet or why i wasn’t there yet,oops,lol It was why i got my HGV2 and 1 licences to get away from those silly hours, regardless of any official /legal situation , there is nothing in place to stop this abuse
I agree that domestic regs are generally unregulated and very hard to pin down exactly what a van driver did or did not do
tommy t:
Well in my experience of van driving, there were no rules in place on the ammount of hours a company would expect you to be driving for, Domestic rules,lol don’t make me laugh,Used to do 18-20hr stints doing deeside -brondby-stand nr copenhagen and back several times a week, would usually get there around 1-2am, get some sleep, across the seats , tip at around 8am , then have to wait until late afternoon to get return load,
I’m not saying it was great, but that is the way it was and probably still is, we would try and grab some sleep on ferries , i got what must of been 3 hrs on the calais to dover once due to bad weather , i didn’t feel a thing ,
But there where times that you got so tired you had to stop , sometimes several times en route for a coffee and a short walk,which would keep you going for an hour or two,If i so tiered i couldn’t keep my eyes open or focus on driving , i would just park at the next safe place i could find and go to sleep, sometimes only a power nap occasionally for 5-6hrs woken by the works phone,with the office bod asking if i was there yet or why i wasn’t there yet,oops,lol It was why i got my HGV2 and 1 licences to get away from those silly hours, regardless of any official /legal situation , there is nothing in place to stop this abuse
similar to above ,but add in starting out late at night/early morn with “it must be there by” and "ring me when your clear " which means there`s another run. the amount of sleep you may or may not have had before starting out, or the hours you have driven is of no importance . when your burnt out you will be replaced by another idiot queueing up for the glamour of the open road. hence I have learnt my phone has a off switch .the sooner they regulate vans (in a manner that can be policed) the better.
Van drivers come under RTD as well so everything that applies to us under it does to them as well.
Van companies want more of a pound of flesh, than driving the big stuff and thats because they are not regulated, you can work as many hours as you like 24/7 if it takes your fancy, which is why i would never apply for one of those jobs. Tommy just about summed it all up.
Generally speaking, the bigger the vehicle is the easier the work is. I had about three weeks on vans back when I was a new driver and I hated it.
syramax:
tommy t:
Well in my experience of van driving, there were no rules in place on the ammount of hours a company would expect you to be driving for, Domestic rules,lol don’t make me laugh,Used to do 18-20hr stints doing deeside -brondby-stand nr copenhagen and back several times a week, would usually get there around 1-2am, get some sleep, across the seats , tip at around 8am , then have to wait until late afternoon to get return load,
I’m not saying it was great, but that is the way it was and probably still is, we would try and grab some sleep on ferries , i got what must of been 3 hrs on the calais to dover once due to bad weather , i didn’t feel a thing ,
But there where times that you got so tired you had to stop , sometimes several times en route for a coffee and a short walk,which would keep you going for an hour or two,If i so tiered i couldn’t keep my eyes open or focus on driving , i would just park at the next safe place i could find and go to sleep, sometimes only a power nap occasionally for 5-6hrs woken by the works phone,with the office bod asking if i was there yet or why i wasn’t there yet,oops,lol It was why i got my HGV2 and 1 licences to get away from those silly hours, regardless of any official /legal situation , there is nothing in place to stop this abusesimilar to above ,but add in starting out late at night/early morn with “it must be there by” and "ring me when your clear " which means there`s another run. the amount of sleep you may or may not have had before starting out, or the hours you have driven is of no importance . when your burnt out you will be replaced by another idiot queueing up for the glamour of the open road. hence I have learnt my phone has a off switch .the sooner they regulate vans (in a manner that can be policed) the better.
All of this is true. I got to a point last year where enough was enough. I’m not far off 50 and don’t wanna be racing round like an headless chicken. No more van work for me. Quite happy in me 18t.
Conor:
Van drivers come under RTD as well so everything that applies to us under it does to them as well.
Incorrect
Drivers under EU regs come under RTD
Domestic reg drivers come under WTD
They come under domestic driving hours which are in here
by rights you are supposed to keep a log book of driving and other work,breaks etc in the van. most don’t but traffick cops could make life awkward if pushed. our work used domestic, eu and mixed regs as it is a mixed hire fleet. we keep manual entries on digi card plus time sheet. police have wee crackdown every now and then. good luck to her if she can keep it going.
So if van drivers are on domestic regs that means their duty time is limited to 11 hours and our duty time is 15 ?
Terry T:
So if van drivers are on domestic regs that means their duty time is limited to 11 hours and our duty time is 15 ?
yes
Domestic regs mean that a driver could legally do 1 hour on 1 hour off for most of a 24 hour period
ROG:
Terry T:
So if van drivers are on domestic regs that means their duty time is limited to 11 hours and our duty time is 15 ?yes
Well that’s bloody ridiculous isn’t it.
Regs, WTD ,log books, all are normally never used, only when companies start getting fined will they ever start to even think about making sure that their drivers of vans comply, untill then it’s buisness as usual drive till ya drop, and there is probably no shortage of willing drivers , especially when european driving is offered, cheaper beer,cigs,baccy ect, providing those drivers then don’t take the pish and start bringing pallets of booze,tobbacco back, risking the vehicle & load getting seized, or making a detour of 100s of miles to get their contraband there often isnt any issues
when I was 19 I was driving vans delivering fruit and veg to hotel’s, restaurant’s etc etc, I was starting at 11pm and finishing 12pm the next day 6 nights a week probably driving around 7 hours a night, I know now that it wasn’t legal but back then I had no clue about WTD or RTD.