The rules and examples of the working time directive (Truck #27) 

I've been driving for seven years now and still learn new things about some of the subtleties of the rules.

@Stephen Valentine you're not allowed to use break as an alternative to POA. 3 hours break splits your daily rest allowing you to reduce your daily rest to 9 hours every day 6 days in a row, and that is only allowed if you have a bed in the cab and are genuinely on break. Spending 4 hours on a building site in a day cab on break waiting to be unloaded isn't exactly a break.

@Stephen Valentine you stated forget POA always break. A lot of transport managers have instructed me not to use POA but to use break instead, which is not legal.

Yeah biting the hand that feeds you sort of thing. I haven't had a quiet period this winter which is unusual for an agency driver and then there was DHL and KFC.

Hey mate .you are so right .ive been away from driving for few years now and looking to get back into the trucking. But all tbese drivers hour's working time are bugging the hell out of me confusion. And if make a mistakes while working can either lose license orget into trouble. Dont know if should go back driving or stay away

That works out. If driving time was fine the last 45 min break could have been a 15 min to stop you going over a 6 hour block.

Breaks aren’t counted in your wtd so finishing break at 1:30 you could go until 7:30.

Starting your 30 mins at 5:59 is the absolute latest you can go. Could also be a 15 mins and finish off the 30 before ending your day. Yes a 45 min would cover you as no single block goes over 6 hours.

You could just have a 45 min break for lunch halfway through the day and that would cover you most if not all of the time since your days are only 9 hours.

spiderman01980 Not sure where you’ve got the 6, 6, 6, 6... from. As you say you’ve done it but then only worked a 4 day week thus disproving this rule already. You need to check your maths somewhere. It is possible to work more than 5/6 shifts in 5/6 days if you do multiple short shifts but the well established 6, 5, 6, 5 rule is fits the tacho rules and makes the maths work.

@@DTWTheWanderingMuzungu 4 days is when the weekly rest is reduced twice. A guy at work has done many 6/6/6/6, and I asked how is that possible. As long as you have a regular weekly rest you can then work another 6 days.

Any breaks taken simultaneously cover driving and working time regs.

TheWanderingMuzungu thank you

@Mark Campbell There’s a very specific set of circumstances required in order to do that which I still can’t Fathom so I stick to the boring 5 and 6.

The rules only say you need 30 mins in the first 6 hours and 45 in the first 9 which can be split into 15 min periods. After that you just need a small 15 min break to make sure that you split up any work periods into blocks of less than 6 hours and your total would be 1 hour of break.

@@DTWTheWanderingMuzungu Oh I see. So as long as you have 45 minutes in the whole day pretty much

It takes an almost impossible set of circumstances but yes a 13/15 hour day can be legally completed with just 45 min of breaks as per wtd rules.

Well I've never tried going over 9 hours without having half an hour break and I'm not going to chance it but feel free if you want to experiment.

I agree with you. It's better worded like this - "If your shift ends between 6-9 hours then you needed to of taken a total of 30 minutes break."

Not always the case mate

Is this genuine or a troll? Because you signed up to RU-vid no more than two hours ago to make this comment saying I’m wrong about the six hour rule then waffling a load of nonsense that looks like it’s trying to be legal jargon. If I am wrong then please explain what is wrong as we are all here to learn. Or better yet since you’ve gone to the trouble of signing up why don’t you make use of the facilities and make a video explaining what you think the working time directive involves.

@@DTWTheWanderingMuzungu Sorry about the 5 month delay. I am only just seeing your comment about my reaction to your posting and can explain fully why you and many Tacho reading firms are wrong in your interpretation of the Working Time Directive 6 hour rule. It will take a few paragraphs of writing and a bit more time to write it. Dan Hanlon

Hello again No troll or any legal jargon is involved. This matter depends simply on comprehension of the English language and of the written word. In O Level English one is taught that comprehension has 3 aspects. Literal meaning Inferred meaning Evaluated meaning All 3 must be considered to come to a full and true understanding. It is no good just looking at the literal meaning like you and Tacho reading firms are doing at the moment. A 15 minute break after 6 hours work does not mean another break is required after any later 6 hour working period within a maximum 15 hour shift. To jump to this wrong conclusion one would have to ignore that WTD regulations also stipulate that a driver take a total of 45 minutes WTD break when working a maximum 15 hour shift. By this reasoning a driver could easily take a 45 minute break early on in his shift, say for driving hours, which should then satisfy all the WTD requirements. Even if he went on to complete a 15 hour shift. But then you would say that later in this 15 hour shift he might well complete another 6 hour working period without taking a break and this would result in an infringement. In short you have only looked at the literal meaning and ignored the inferred meaning. So what about the evaluated meaning? This would require someone who is knowledgeable about working time break requirements for the generality of workers and not just for HGV drivers. He could evaluate the matter by using a wider perspective. He would come to the conclusion that workers generally are entitled to only one break per shift no matter how long the shift. Why should HGV drivers be different? To which you are likely to loudly insist that HGV driving is particularly arduous and requires more skill and concentration than most other forms of work. But this would yet again ignore another important fact. HGV drivers are already subject to far more stringent break requirements when driving. That is a 45 minute break every 4.5 hours of driving up to a maximum of 10 hours driving per shift. This is considerably more than 45 minutes break per 15 hour shift. If the driver works a longer 15 hour shift it can only result from performing extra non driving work. So why should he have more breaks than other workers performing equivalent work? Dan Hanlon

It should be obvious to most that WTD regulations should only seek to apply what looks like a reasonable increasing and progressive break requirement against the length of period worked in a shift. Why on earth would anybody seek to introduce a vague and troublesome component like a second application of the 6 hour break? It has only ever caused a great deal of trouble. It's like some smart Alec has tried to prove himself cleverer than his colleagues and to the detriment of all involved. Lastly it is logical that a worker or driver should want to take a break in the middle of a shift for maximum benefit. Indeed DVLA literature encourages this notion. Dan Hanlon

I don’t have a work number or email but you can private message me and I’ll see if I can help.

@@DTWTheWanderingMuzungu HOW DO YOU private MESSAGE ON YOU-TUBE could please send me step-by-step instructions please

They must have removed that feature as I can’t find it now. You can go to my Facebook page and do it through there.