Can anyone help me please?
I’ve recently increased my hours and struggling to fathom the average 48 hour rule.
How is it possible to average 48 hours when you are working 12+ hour shifts?
Take away breaks and I’m still no where near.
Thanks
By use of break and or poa as much as possible. Poa and break do not count towards the WTD.
i forget the wording that was used when it was explained to me but i think sunday doesn’t count. Any other day is 8 hours worked or not hence why or otherwise 48 hours not 40. If you are spending large amounts of time being tipped, loaded or waiting around it needs to be break
Depends how many 12 hour shifts you work, and as others have indicated, how much of it counts towards your WTD (it’s actually RTD for in EU hours driving, but lets not over complicate things)
Bottom line is you can’t simply work all the hours you might want to, and it’s down to your gaffers to advise when it looks like you might go over your 48 hour average.
What counts towards your 48 hours average? Driving and other work, Saturdays (even if you’re not at work) statutory holidays, yard/warehouse/office work, being on the sick…
This video covers WTD/RTD as well as drivers hours
Sunday doesn’t count? That’s a new one on me 
. The amount of working time will depend entirely on the type of work you are undertaking. Lots of time tipping/loading/waiting stick it on break or POA if you must. Lots of driving with really quick turnaround times is going to become problematic with regards to keeping under a 48 hour average.
At the last company that I worked at I averaged way over 60 hours per week but there was massive amounts of sitting around meaning that my average was mid 30’s weekly.
WTD/POA…Fact is it is all ■■■■■■■■.
It is a purely an ‘On the face of it’ excercise with no real substance to make it look like (on the face of it) we are working sensible hours…which we aint.
As said they want you to use poa, and breaks.
I have never used poa ever, if I am waiting to tip, I don’t gaf if they tell me how long it will be or not…I am technically WORKING, so tacho goes on other WORK.
If I put it on break, when waiting to tip…ie ‘working’, way I see it is a false entry, but suddenlly a false entry is deemed acceptable to ‘them’.
I really cba to play their stupid games, and the fact that ‘they’ don’t ‘police’ it, (never heard any driver being prosecuted yet) and the furthest it goes is an internal infringement …(Omg NOoo , please not an infringement .
.
Kinda says it all.
When they DO start prosecuting, then I will start playing on a self preservation basis.
I should have said “Sunday doesn’t count unless you’re actually at work”. It’s not my definitions of what does and does not count, it came from various gov.uk pages I’ve looked up before, I just don’t have those specific links to hand
Never have I been so pleased to be long retired as when I read threads like these. I am sure things must have been as strict in my day, but I can’t remember analysing it to the nth degree which seems to worry so many these days.
Best of luck tout le mond. 
There’s no input required from the driver: Card gets downloaded regularly, TM or other person analyses it, clicks a button on the software and bosh! There’s the info, if they’re halfway through the reference period and already exceeding the average, just need to cut back a bit on the OT
33.21 hours average currently over 26 week reference period starting on 25/03/24.
Tachomaster app calculates your working time average if your company uses tachomaster and supplies you the app login details upon request. If you care enough to know that is, I haven’t logged in to the app for god knows how long tbh til read this thread so thought I’d have a look.
So how is annual leave recorded using a manual entry? I’ve always recorded it as rest, but can’t tell if that’s right or wrong looking at the guidance.
Annual leave needs inputting on tachomaster or the like to count it is as 8 hours.
Another daft situation as you can’t enter other work for annual leave and can’t really enter break either really for the purposes of WTD.
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what i dont get is the specific example of working sunday to thursday and having friday and saturday off but still being over the 48 hour average even if i just do 8 hours of work a day
So how is that possible without getting an infringement?
Enter it as starting work at 8am, until 30 minute break at 12:30, then working 1-5pm for example?
It all depends, but P O A probably.
If a Sunday is your day off then it doesn’t count, but you could say that for any other day of the week too: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, to be exact.
Annual leave, being on the sick, both are recorded as Rest for ME purposes. Basically the tacho needs to know one of two things: Have you been working (which includes all the stuff in a working day whether in or around the truck or in the yard) or have you (for whatever reason) not been working.
Bottom line is that we don’t really need to worry about it as a driver; the analysis system
(whether Tachomaster, Aquarius, Tru Tac etc) records and calculates it all; the TM should inform the driver of the state of play regarding reference period average. No driver has ever been done for WTD/RTD issues.
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Ah OK thanks, I’ll keep recording it as rest then.
I was replying to Coops mate. I know you’re au fait with the regs, I just worried that he believed that Sundays were somehow “free”
the way i understand it is that if i have a tuesday off for example there is still 8 hours added however if i have sunday off no hours are added. As someone said its just more meaningless red tape
I have always worked on the rule that if i am being tipped, loaded and or waiting for a load its break provided i can go get a cuppa and have a smoke etc. If i cant its other work and ill have my break outside the gate if that is the case and i need a break.
I realise though i have had a sheltered carear as far as lorry driving as a whole goes so my stratagy might not work for others.