driver hours~???

[boss]

just had a staffmeeting at work and from what i understand new legislation has come in that once in a 2 week period if you are driving a HGV you haveto take 9 hours rest un payed away from work. can anyone else shed some light on this? its been painted to me is that in the 2 week window you are fine driving a 3.5ton vehicle, as soon as you drive anything above 7.5ton you are "under scope" and all of your drivers hours are recorded and taken into account including those in the 3.5 ton, i then must take the 9 hours rest unpayed. im also not alowed to take up a second job to fill the gap.

i know the drivers hours regulations are there for a reason but if this is the case then its going to be a real thorn in my side pay wise just for the sake of hiabing some scaffold stillage once a fortnight.

any thoughts?

[lurch_917]

right ill try and explain ,
you can drive : 3x9 hrs +2x10 hrs a week each shift must be followed by a 11 hr rest period this can be reduce 2 a week to 9 hrs.
your rest is : in any 4 1/2 hr drive you must have 3/4 hr break this can be taken in 2 parts the first being no less than 1/4 hr the 2nd being no less than 1/2 hr then you start afresh 4 1/2 = 9 hrs then another break of 3/4 then your last hour driving if your doing a 10 hr.
these are classed as breaks .
then you have daily rest = 11 hrs between shifts that can be reduced to 9hrs  2 times a week.

[boss]

is that not just stndard driver hours? Work have told me that everey 14 day period you now must have 9 consecutive hours rest from work aswell as your tacho breaks.

[mark-d]

so if you drive every day for 2 weeks you must have a day off?

[boss]

is what they have told me yes.

[mark-d]

doesn't sound to un-reasonable to me, is this a law or company policy?

[boss]

new legeslation that has come in/coming in apparently.

[gtomo2]

Me think they on about the weekly rest period And or the W.T.D of a 48 hour week whitch means if your total work for a set period usally 18 weeks averages more than 48 hours you have to have unpaided time at work were you can not work. Happens at my place a lot guys just sit in the catten for 8-9 hours to bring the weekly work avarege down. you can thank brussels for that.

[Saffy]

why does it have to be unpaid?

[mark-d]

thats odd, If I aint getting paid i aint at work

[boss]

right i got a little more clarification, if you drive 7 days a week one of those days within that week must be a rest day, unpaid.

[frosty]

that seems common sense surely?

 brussels have made all the working time directive and the drivers hours rules apply for some time now...has your company only just realised this? or are they just now having to play by this?

[gtomo2]

As the law is you cant drive/work for 7 days a week as you need a min rest period so thats a big no no. You have to have a 48hour rest at the end of your working week. you could work 6 days max twice then would have to have two days off by the end of the third week.
http://www.hgvcity.com/Regulations/regulations.htm have a look at this.
Loads of info on here http://www.transportsfriend.org/wtd/echours.html
Hope that helps