Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?
Yes it is law, it is legally binding, you cannot opt out of it. Only work and driving count towards the WTD so time spent sat on break or PoA doesn’t which is why you can work 60hrs continously especially if you’re on something like fridges or containers where you have a lot of waiting time.
Bigger fool you - if you decide to have “working time off-book” so that you can work 60 hours a week every week…
If you refused to use POA outright, then after ten hours at night (not including breaks) - you’re out of hours!
Wise up and work for outfits that ‘don’t recognize POA’. If they do, then don’t you recognize “needing to use it”.
If you’re contracted to work say, a 50 hour week - you want to use up those 50 hours in good time - not string it out into 60ish hours. 
To hell with WTD. BREXIT. Bring it on 
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?
1 Yes
2 By working for nothing.
If Charles Dickens were alive today,he’d probably pen a new novel about it.
Suggestions for a title anyone ?
Yep legally binding but breaks and POA don’t count towards it.
Not sure how many companies have been prosecuted for breaches of the 1998 wtd act but I do have it on good authority that Pertemps where one of the first.
As I sit at home, I read about drivers working 60 hours per week, and needing ‘p.o.a.’ to avoid breaking the law. They justify this each and every time, by boasting about ‘large pay packets’.
Christ, if I was to break the law to earn a fat check, I’d rob a bank… ( nobody would consider £700 a good haul when robbing a bank… 
).
I couldn’t run over my weekly hours, even if I maxed out every day. And probably get paid the same as some who do…
I’ve had a couple of 65 hour quiet weeks where my true working time is under 45hours.
Nature of the beast, time at work and time working are totally separate monsters.
Right or wrong is down to individual choice, I choose lots of paid hours but it’s not for everyone. To be fair my hourly rate ain’t that great but I use my spare time earning a fortune writing ■■■■ stories. 
Dipper_Dave:
I’ve had a couple of 65 hour quiet weeks where my true working time is under 45hours.Nature of the beast, time at work and time working are totally separate monsters.
Right or wrong is down to individual choice, I choose lots of paid hours but it’s not for everyone. To be fair my hourly rate ain’t that great but I use my spare time earning a fortune writing ■■■■ stories.
When I tramped I had a similar attitude, when I’m in the cab relaxing/cooking/tossing one off, I would not count that as work. But, you are still at work. You can’t dispose of your time as you want. Just try and back onto a bay at any RDC and tell the goods in office that you are going off site to do some shopping…
Now, I work three and a half days a week. And I’m liking it a lot.
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?
You can BE at work for a lot more than 60 hours per week, and not be in breech of the WTD.
Come on, seriously 
F-reds:
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?You can BE at work for a lot more than 60 hours per week, and not be in breech of the WTD.
Come on, seriously
A Monday to Friday tramper will be with the truck over 110 hours. That makes the wages around £4-£5 ph.
And tramper rave about having a fridge and microwave build in. But no toilet.
the nodding donkey:
F-reds:
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?You can BE at work for a lot more than 60 hours per week, and not be in breech of the WTD.
Come on, seriously
A Monday to Friday tramper will be with the truck over 110 hours. That makes the wages around £4-£5 ph.
And tramper rave about having a fridge and microwave build in. But no toilet.
I’m sure they do. Doesn’t make the question any less daft.
If a tramper decides they are paid well enough for what they are doing each week, I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong.
Personally 60 hours in 5 days is huge for me. But I recognise other peoples circumstances and T&Cs and lives are different.
On the rigids most weeks were about 45-50 hours, I’m doing a bit more now on artics. The company I work for pays peanuts so I’m doing the bare minimum required, at least they don’t ask us to use POA. I had the complicane guy pull me into the office to ask me why my working time was so much higher than everyone else’s to which I replied. “Well, I’m working…, If I’m doing something then its on Other Work, if not then its on Break. Simple as that”.
Push, push, push. Sod that, I work how I want to work, the office doesn’t care about us so why should we care about what they want.
Radar19:
Push, push, push. Sod that, I work how I want to work, the office doesn’t care about us so why should we care about what they want.
And that’s great Radar if it works for you, but I’m sure you wouldn’t begrudge the drivers at your firm who use POA and break to maximise their earning potential if they want to?
F-reds:
the nodding donkey:
F-reds:
cardiff06:
Can somebody explain.Is the w t d legally binding and if so how can drivers work 60hr weeks continuously ?You can BE at work for a lot more than 60 hours per week, and not be in breech of the WTD.
Come on, seriously
A Monday to Friday tramper will be with the truck over 110 hours. That makes the wages around £4-£5 ph.
And tramper rave about having a fridge and microwave build in. But no toilet.I’m sure they do. Doesn’t make the question any less daft.
If a tramper decides they are paid well enough for what they are doing each week, I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong.
Personally 60 hours in 5 days is huge for me. But I recognise other peoples circumstances and T&Cs and lives are different.
Of course. When I was tramping I did less than 50 hours recorded work a week. But I was still in that truck 24 hours a day. Apart from sailors, I can’t think of any other profession where people would accept to work and live in the same space 24 hours a day. Never mind in a small cupboard, and be expected to sleep in same cupboard, and not be provided with basic sanitation and drinking water.
F-reds:
Radar19:
Push, push, push. Sod that, I work how I want to work, the office doesn’t care about us so why should we care about what they want.And that’s great Radar if it works for you, but I’m sure you wouldn’t begrudge the drivers at your firm who use POA and break to maximise their earning potential if they want to?
I don’t know what the other drivers do, I don’t speak to them. Whilst at many better firms where POA can net you more cash, it doesn’t work like that here. Runs are planned to slot together so there is very little chance to even use POA unless you’re agency, they seem to get away with it.
Heres something, we run trailers to Sunderland where we have to strip them out (Euro trailers), tip then put them back to together then drive down the road for a backload. Day drivers get 12 hours before the night shift start, night shift has to do the same job in 11 hours.
Radar19:
Heres something, we run trailers to Sunderland where we have to strip them out (Euro trailers), tip then put them back to together then drive down the road for a backload. Day drivers get 12 hours before the night shift start, night shift has to do the same job in 11 hours.
Seems perfectly logical to me. Daytime= day traffic. Nighttime is clear running except for closures(most of which are planned)
Unless you have different traffic patterns ooop norf
F-reds:
Radar19:
Heres something, we run trailers to Sunderland where we have to strip them out (Euro trailers), tip then put them back to together then drive down the road for a backload. Day drivers get 12 hours before the night shift start, night shift has to do the same job in 11 hours.Seems perfectly logical to me. Daytime= day traffic. Nighttime is clear running except for closures(most of which are planned)
Unless you have different traffic patterns ooop norf
Tip times are still the same…
Yes but the traffic to get there and back isn’t.
F-reds:
Yes but the traffic to get there and back isn’t.
It is, bar an accident travel times are about 3 hours each way for both shifts.