I passed my Class 2 last month and have been looking around a few agencies for some ad-hoc work in the South Wales area where I live. Mainly to get some experience on the Class 2 before my class 1 training booked for early January.
I currently work 39 hours Monday to Friday (not driving), so understand that I’d only be available to drive one weekend day per fortnight.
I have one potential opportunity, for Saturday afternoons for a bakery. As far as I can tell it is a 13:30pm start with a run to somewhere in England, with 5 drops on the way back. I’m waiting for more info on exact hours and pay that can be expected but it’s advertised at around £11 - £13.10 per hour.
What are my limits in terms of the hours I am available to work on the Saturday at the moment, and is there any other advice for starting out with agency, for ad-hoc weekend work?
As you rightly say unless you can fit a 45 hours rest period every other weekend and still do the driving job you will only be able to legally drive one shift every other weekend.
Legally you must be finished the driving job on Saturday no later than 144 hours from when you started work on Monday, so if you started at 08:00 Monday you should be finished by 08:00 Sunday morning.
You also need to have a 24 hour rest period between finishing the driving job on Saturday and starting work the following Monday, I’ve no idea how anyone’s going to know if you have less than 24 hours rest but the law says you must
By the way, as you’re working to EU regulations on Saturday the work you do from the previous Monday to Friday will count as other work for the EU regulations so you need to record those hours, legally the records should be on tachograph charts or printouts but unofficially the kind people at DVSA will accept records kept in a notebook/diary.
Goff118:
and is there any other advice for starting out with agency, for ad-hoc weekend work?
Probably the best advice about working for an agency is to believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see
Goff118:
Out of interest, how would it work for a Sunday job?
Assuming you did not work on the Saturday you would have at-least a reduced weekly rest period before starting work on Sunday and assuming you never drove the previous weekend that would be fine, so you would be good to go as long as you’re finished before 24:00 Sunday.
Assuming the journey was single manned the Sunday shift must not be over 15 hours and you would need at-least 9 hours daily rest before starting work on Monday.
Goff118:
Perfect, thank you. So basically I’m OK for one Saturday or Sunday every fortnight as long as I’m done by 08:00 Sunday morning or 24:00 Sunday.
Still waiting for the agency to get back to me with more details, so we’ll see how it goes!
Yes, well if you start work on Monday at 08:00 you would need to be finished by 23:00 Sunday to allow for a 9 hour rest period.
Ah OK that’ll work. I’ll update with any other questions if/when I get more info from the agency. They sounded keen when I applied, ringing me back the next day, so hopefully I’ll hear something soon!
Goff118:
Perfect, thank you. So basically I’m OK for one Saturday or Sunday every fortnight as long as I’m done by 08:00 Sunday morning or 24:00 Sunday.
Still waiting for the agency to get back to me with more details, so we’ll see how it goes!
Yes, well if you start work on Monday at 08:00 you would need to be finished by 23:00 Sunday to allow for a 9 hour rest period.
Sorry if didn’t explain that properly
Hey, it’s been a while, but I’m back I have some Sunday agency work coming up and just wanted to check the limits I have, in order to stay within the tachograph laws.
So I work 8 - 4:30pm Monday to Thursday and 8 - 3:30pm on Fridays (non-driving job). I would be doing the driving work on Sundays starting this Sunday.
Am I right in thinking that as long as I am finished by 11pm on Sunday night, I am able to start at any time from 3:30am onwards (allowing for 24 hour break for week 1 and 45 hour break in the following weekend that I don’t work)?
Also, 2 other related questions -
I understand that all of my working time would need to be recorded - is a written diary still OK, or are there better ways to record the non-driving work alongside the driving work in case I’m pulled up on it?
The company I am going to be working for require manual entries at the start of my shift. Would I need to make work and rest entries for all of my non-driving work since last withdrawing the card?
I recently passed class 2 but cant get any weekend work just now due to it being quiet but also, a few agencies said that because I work full time (non driving) Mon-Fri 5.30am-2pm that getting shifts at weekend will be difficult due to hours already worked etc! Catch 22 for me
jimmea:
Sorry to hijack but I’m having the same issues!
I recently passed class 2 but cant get any weekend work just now due to it being quiet but also, a few agencies said that because I work full time (non driving) Mon-Fri 5.30am-2pm that getting shifts at weekend will be difficult due to hours already worked etc! Catch 22 for me
I passed Class 2 in August 2021, and didn’t get anything suitable for weekends, through agency or direct all the time I was looking. By the looks of it, I will be starting on Sunday, which would be within a month of passing Class 1, so I think the opportunities for new passes are definitely greater if you have Class 1 on your licence.
Goff118:
Am I right in thinking that as long as I am finished by 11pm on Sunday night, I am able to start at any time from 3:30am onwards (allowing for 24 hour break for week 1 and 45 hour break in the following weekend that I don’t work)?
Also, 2 other related questions -
I understand that all of my working time would need to be recorded - is a written diary still OK, or are there better ways to record the non-driving work alongside the driving work in case I’m pulled up on it?
The company I am going to be working for require manual entries at the start of my shift. Would I need to make work and rest entries for all of my non-driving work since last withdrawing the card?
Top bit seems ok
1 = yes a diary is ok and the two sorts of WTD do not get added together
2 = Diary for non driving work otherwise you could spend all your driving shift inputting that lot into the tacho
Goff118:
Am I right in thinking that as long as I am finished by 11pm on Sunday night, I am able to start at any time from 3:30am onwards (allowing for 24 hour break for week 1 and 45 hour break in the following weekend that I don’t work)?
Also, 2 other related questions -
I understand that all of my working time would need to be recorded - is a written diary still OK, or are there better ways to record the non-driving work alongside the driving work in case I’m pulled up on it?
The company I am going to be working for require manual entries at the start of my shift. Would I need to make work and rest entries for all of my non-driving work since last withdrawing the card?
Top bit seems ok
1 = yes a diary is ok and the two sorts of WTD do not get added together
2 = Diary for non driving work otherwise you could spend all your driving shift inputting that lot into the tacho
Haha yes, I did wonder about that. So what would my manual entry in a fortnight be, if I worked this Sunday, then worked Mon-Fri non-driving next week, no work next weekend and then worked Mon-Fri non driving again next week?
I have some Sunday agency work coming up and just wanted to check the limits I have, in order to stay within the tachograph laws.
