I think I am a good interpreter of the rules, but maybe I have this one wrong. Remember when it was, a 45, 36 and 24 away from base rule, well, now it’s 45 for regular and 24 for a reduced, so, how come, I keep hearing and reading that someone or other has only had 42 hours off and has to make up three hours by the end of the third week following that week, for his reduction, and other instances, where I have heard of people only having 39, or 29 and only making up the shortfall from 45. I thought the reason it said that a regular weekly rest is 45 hours and a reduced weekly rest is 24, so it doesn’t matter if you only had 39, that counts as a 24 and you have to make up 21 lost hours then, or what is the point in the regs saying 24 is a reduced, does this make sense, or is it me?
A regular weekly rest period is a rest period of at-least 45 hours, a reduced weekly rest period is a rest period of at-least 24 hours but less than 45 hours.
You only have to compensate for the period of time that a reduced weekly rest period falls short of the 45 hours, so if the weekly rest period is 5 hours less than 45 hours ie 40 hours, you only have to compensate for the 5 hours.
Here’s the exact wording of the regulations
‘weekly rest period’ means the weekly period during
which a driver may freely dispose of his time and covers
a ‘regular weekly rest period’ and a ‘reduced weekly rest
period’:
– ‘regular weekly rest period’ means any period of rest
of at least 45 hours,
– ‘reduced weekly rest period’ means any period of
rest of less than 45 hours, which may, subject to the
conditions laid down in Article 8(6), be shortened
to a minimum of 24 consecutive hours;
In any two consecutive weeks a driver shall take at least:
– two regular weekly rest periods, or
– one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly
rest period of at least 24 hours. However, the reduction
shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest
taken en bloc before the end of the third week following
the week in question.