im struggling to get to grips with the weekly rest thing.looking in the vosa book (09),it shows an example(page 18) of a reduced weekly rest period.it shows this having to be paid back by the end of the third week.so in effect if you worked a saturday (12 hours) at the end of your normal week(mon to fri),the week after(or within three weeks) you will need to pay this twelve hours back.which means taking a friday or monday off as well as your weekend off.this has always been my understanding.but i have now also read that you can work 6 days before a weekly rest period,but this would mean your weekly rest taking you into monday which then buggers up your working week which would start on a tuesday!im completly confused.my problem is now that ive got regular work so all these rules(that before i didnt have to worry about)are becoming relevant.i worked a six day week last week(mon to sat)and have told my agency i wont be in today,sure that i needed to take friday off as well as weekend to make up for that saturday.agency said they have never heard anything like this before but i was sure i was right.now im not so sure after looking at various posts on this site.im hearing now i can work evrey other saturday.apparentley some work two saturdays in a row,which cant be right.last week i worked 55 hours (mon to sat),this week 44 hours (mon to thurs).somebody put me right on this please? thanks
ten4rubberduckie:
im struggling to get to grips with the weekly rest thing.looking in the vosa book (09),it shows an example(page 18) of a reduced weekly rest period.it shows this having to be paid back by the end of the third week.so in effect if you worked a saturday (12 hours) at the end of your normal week(mon to fri),the week after(or within three weeks) you will need to pay this twelve hours back.which means taking a friday or monday off as well as your weekend off.this has always been my understanding.but i have now also read that you can work 6 days before a weekly rest period,but this would mean your weekly rest taking you into monday which then buggers up your working week which would start on a tuesday!im completly confused.my problem is now that ive got regular work so all these rules(that before i didnt have to worry about)are becoming relevant.i worked a six day week last week(mon to sat)and have told my agency i wont be in today,sure that i needed to take friday off as well as weekend to make up for that saturday.agency said they have never heard anything like this before but i was sure i was right.now im not so sure after looking at various posts on this site.im hearing now i can work evrey other saturday.apparentley some work two saturdays in a row,which cant be right.last week i worked 55 hours (mon to sat),this week 44 hours (mon to thurs).somebody put me right on this please? thanks
Sorry I don’t have time to go into too much detail but see if this helps 
The regulations require that you start a weekly rest period no later than 6 x 24 hour periods (144 hours) from the end of your last weekly rest period.
In any 2 consecutive weeks you should have at least 1 full weekly rest period so legally you must have a full 45 hour weekly rest period at least every other week.
The compensation for a reduced weekly rest period has to be paid back by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest was taken.
If you worked 6 days last week and had a reduced weekly rest then you will need a full weekly rest this week but the compensation for the previous reduced weekly rest does not have to be paid back for another couple off weeks.
Compensation for a reduced weekly rest period must be taken en-block and can be added onto any rest period of at least nine hours.
Hope this helps a bit
thanks for the reply.i realise you may not have time to post again,which is fine,but my response is to anyone else who may be reading.
i see now i can work evrey other saturday,but from all the posts i have read on here, and from what i have been told from evreyone at my agency, noone has ever mentioned this compensation.it seems accepted that you have a full rest evrey two weeks and thats it.the compensation,wether taken attached to a daily or weekly rest,would indicate an extra day off.just as i was saying in the beginning,but this is unheard of to evreyone else. any ideas anyone?
ten4rubberduckie:
thanks for the reply.i realise you may not have time to post again,which is fine,but my response is to anyone else who may be reading.i see now i can work evrey other saturday,but from all the posts i have read on here, and from what i have been told from evreyone at my agency, noone has ever mentioned this compensation.it seems accepted that you have a full rest evrey two weeks and thats it.the compensation,wether taken attached to a daily or weekly rest,would indicate an extra day off.just as i was saying in the beginning,but this is unheard of to evreyone else. any ideas anyone?
Hi mate,
This is slightly outside of my remit, but I’ll venture an answer…
The ‘compensation’ you mentioned is most definitely in the Regs as you’ve found, but whether anybody (the agency or anybody else for that matter) has heard of it, or takes any notice of it is a question for them to decide.
The question in your own case is whether you take any notice of it.
Compensation for reduced weekly rest is a requirement and can easily be checked, so now it’s up to you.
No ROG, we don’t need a scenario. 
The master will be along shortly, no not Rog. the bloke who wrote this. clues are available 
Maybe not a complete trumpet, you can. I’m currently on what will be my seventh consecutive week of six days.
ten4rubberduckie:
im struggling to get to grips with the weekly rest thing.looking in the vosa book (09),it shows an example(page 18) of a reduced weekly rest period.it shows this having to be paid back by the end of the third week.so in effect if you worked a saturday (12 hours) at the end of your normal week(mon to fri),the week after(or within three weeks) you will need to pay this twelve hours back.which means taking a friday or monday off as well as your weekend off.this has always been my understanding.but i have now also read that you can work 6 days before a weekly rest period,but this would mean your weekly rest taking you into monday which then buggers up your working week which would start on a tuesday!im completly confused.my problem is now that ive got regular work so all these rules(that before i didnt have to worry about)are becoming relevant.i worked a six day week last week(mon to sat)and have told my agency i wont be in today,sure that i needed to take friday off as well as weekend to make up for that saturday.agency said they have never heard anything like this before but i was sure i was right.now im not so sure after looking at various posts on this site.im hearing now i can work evrey other saturday.apparentley some work two saturdays in a row,which cant be right.last week i worked 55 hours (mon to sat),this week 44 hours (mon to thurs).somebody put me right on this please? thanks
There are members who are MUCH better than me on the regulations but I’ll have a go…
I think this is what you did…
Full weekly rest then
Work monday to saturday
Off sunday and restart on monday
The time off from finishing saturday to starting monday was probably less than 45 hours off so is a reduced weekly rest (we will call this WEEK 1) and from your post it seems that it was for 33 hours as you said you needed to pay back 12 hours (45- 33 = 12) 
Your next weekly rest MUST be a FULL weekly rest of at least 45 hours as your last one was a reduced weekly rest
work mon to fri & Off sat & sun for full weekly rest is ok
(or - work mon to sat & Off sun & mon for full weekly rest is also ok)
For either of the above we will call this WEEK 2 and will run with the first option
Lets assume that we have still not paid back those 12 hours yet and they must be paid back in full (and in one go) before midnight of WEEK 4 which is ‘before the end of the third week following the reduction’
With paying back those 12 hours in mind we now have to plan carefully what we are going to do for the next weekly rest (we will call this WEEK 3) to make sure we pay them back as leaving them for the next weekly rest after this on could get a bit tricky
We could take the minimum reduced weekly rest allowed of 24 hours and also add the 12 making 36 hours off - this would leave us with a NEW 21 hours to pay back (45 - 24 = 21) before midnight of WEEK 7 - of course that starts to complicate things a little but is legal
OR - this would be my personal choice…
we could take a full weekly rest and add the 12 hours but that would mean taking 57 hours off which may be easily possible… finish friday at 9pm and start monday at 6am is 57 hours
THIS COULD BE DONE FOR THE WEEKLY REST TAKEN AT WEEK 2 
i worked 55 hours (mon to sat),this week 44 hours (mon to thurs)
If those are the total hours of SHIFT times then they have no bearing on any regulation
If they are the total WORK times (driving + other work) then the average for the RT(WTD)R is 48 per WEEK (sunday midnight to sunday midnight) over 17 or 26 weeks and 99 is only just over the 96 average for 2 WEEKS so no great worries there
If they are the DRIVING hours then you are in the crap as the max over any two consecutive WEEKS (any fortnight) is 90 hours
I do tend to ramble and sometimes complicate things but I do try 
Blimey its confusing me reading this and i know about the regs lol
just remember to make a note of how much rest you actually have - if its 45 hours then don’t even worry about it
if its less than 45 hours try to pay it back in one lump during the week by adding it to an 11 hr break - so if you had 42 hours weekend rest then you had a break of 14 hours during the next week its paid back and you can again forget about it
However if you couldn’t pay it back or it was quite a short rest of say 24 hours you will need to add the difference from 45 which is 21 hours to your next weekend rest - so that’ll be 66 hours off - thats the long and short - and in as basic as it can be to avoid getting caught out -pay back a reduced rest ASAP -
I find that working one long week then one short week also slots in with drivers hours and the 90hr rolling 14days regs
cheers
Steve
gm:
try to pay it back in one lump during the week by adding it to an 11 hr break -
Or a 9 if you have one available
In his case if he was looking to pay bcak 12 hours then having 21 hours off during a ‘normal’ working week is unlikely for most
something I failed to pick up on in your post…
ten4rubberduckie:
if you worked a saturday (12 hours) at the end of your normal week(mon to fri),the week after(or within three weeks) you will need to pay this twelve hours back.
You don’t pay back the 12 hours worked on the saturday…
What you have to pay back is the shortfall that makes up the 45 hours
Finishing saturday at say 6pm and then starting monday at say 6am gives you 36 hours off - a reduced weekly rest of 36 hours with 9 to pay back (45 - 36 = 9)
told you I was an amateur at this…
I think you’re just getting confused because you’re thinking of a full rest as being 2 days, rather than 45hrs. You could do a Saturday morning, and still get in a full rest for Monday morning (depending on finish and start times, obviously). That wouldn’t be 2 days rest, but it would be 45hrs. And if you are off on Satrurday and Sunday, you could have had in the region of 60hrs rest, with plenty to be used as compensation in there.
ten4rubberduckie:
thanks for the reply.i realise you may not have time to post again,which is fine,but my response is to anyone else who may be reading.i see now i can work evrey other saturday,but from all the posts i have read on here, and from what i have been told from evreyone at my agency, noone has ever mentioned this compensation.it seems accepted that you have a full rest evrey two weeks and thats it.the compensation,wether taken attached to a daily or weekly rest,would indicate an extra day off.just as i was saying in the beginning,but this is unheard of to evreyone else. any ideas anyone?
As grumpybum said you seem to see the weekly rest period as two days which is not the best or correct way to look at it, in order to stop being confused you must start seeing the weekly rest period as any 45 consecutive hours of rest.
If you started a weekly rest period at 11:00 Saturday and resumed work at 08:00 Monday you will have had 45 hours rest which is a full weekly rest period even though the weekly rest period of 45 hours is spread over 3 separate days (Saturday/Sunday/Monday).
You don’t say what times you usually finish work on Friday or start on Monday so I can’t be too specific.
As I said before you must have a full 45 hour weekly rest period at least every other week, that’s written in stone and should be obeyed
Lets suppose you normally work from 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday (with lots of POA and breaks before anyone mentions the WTD), then one week you work the 08:00 to 23:00 on Saturday and resume work as usual at 08:00 Monday.
You’ve had a reduced weekly rest period of 33 hours (23:00 Saturday to 08:00 Monday) leaving compensation of 12 hours to be paid back.
The following week you work as normal 08:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday and have a weekly rest period from 20:00 Friday to 08:00 Monday making 60 hours in total (20:00 Friday to 08:00 Monday = 60 hours)
This 60 hours is in fact more than enough to count as a regular 45 hour weekly rest period plus the 12 hours compensation you need to pay back for the reduced weekly rest you had (45 hour weekly rest + 12 compensation = 57 hours required)
I’ve made up the hours in this example so they may not be the hours you would work but can you now see how you could pay back compensation for a reduced weekly rest period without having to take a day off work and could in fact do this every other week with the compensation being paid back on alternate weeks and you’ve never lost a days work.
As dieseldave said the need to compensate for reduced weekly rest periods is written into the regulations and frankly you would be unwise to ignore it.
And here it is 
Article 8.6 Regulaton (EC) No 561/2006:
6. 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.
A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six
24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest
period.
ROG:
gm:
try to pay it back in one lump during the week by adding it to an 11 hr break -
Or a 9 if you have one available
Quite right i stand corrected
cheers
Steve
Edited 1205pm
gm:
ROG:
gm:
try to pay it back in one lump during the week by adding it to an 11 hr break -Or a 9 if you have one available
You cannot payback using a 9 as its already a reduced break
cheers
Steve
You can pay back compensation for a reduced weekly rest period by adding the compensation en block onto any rest period of at least 9 hours.
cheers all for the input.im glad you can save these threads.ive a feeling i will be referring back to it for a while to come. 