Before all this scared of your own shadow ■■■■■■■■ started, I used to leave my automatic tacho switched on to sleep, when I was driving it automatically recorded so, when I wasn’t driving I was on break. So simple 
I was primarily doing continental work that didn’t involve me actually doing much other than driving, so I wasn’t a complete rebel, but it would probably result in me losing my licence for a while if I did the same thing today 
Sat In the centre of york atm outside my shop no numpty here so as its took me 3 1/2 hours to get here having 50 min break then off to bridlington and Scarborough then break on the way back to Wolverhampton.
Yorks no fun with a 45ft trailer lol
Jeff.
Last week I was in the new ASDA RDC at Avonmouth (which has replaced the Portbury RDC). A driver there told me that VOSA were pulling drivers outside after they were tipped and checking to see if the tip had been recorded as a break or not. I was quite astonished by this for all the reasons mentioned already in this thread but the whole issue of a ‘break’ appeared to revolve around whether the driver is in procession of their truck keys or not. Yep, my eyes grew wider lol. I didn’t spend much time thinking about it as the argument is akin to two bald men arguing over a comb (or key in this case) in my opinion.
Maybe slightly off topic here but I’ve often thought that the practice of immobilizing trucks around a warehouse building could possibly prevent access to the emergency services attending an incident. But then I remembered that the casualties would be either drivers and/or recruitment agency personnel so Health and Safety must have given this practice a very energetic green light lol.
Also slightly OT … I remember going to Asda at Castleford a few years back and being told I wasn’t allowed out of my cab because it was dangerous, then going on to a Tesco RDC and being told I wasn’t allowed into my cab because it was dangerous. Well, one of them must be wrong …
If I’m allowed to stay in my cab on a bay, I stick it on break. If I’m in the drivers’ pen, it stays on other work. Legal or not, this seems a commonsense approach to me.
When I was a kid, all great stories started - ‘once upon a time…’
Now I drive trucks, all great stories start - ‘this driver was pulled by VOSA and…’ 
Once upon a time at ‘RDC camp’ I was partaking in a snooze in the waiting room after just enjoying a good sandwich, cup of tea and play on the internet and the man from VOSA woke me up and marched me to my wagon to check my tacho mode.
Inspecting the aforementioned tacho he noticed the little bed symbol was showing and said I’m going to have to fine you as you can’t class what you where doing as exclusive ■■■■■■■■■■■■/recuperation etc, after explaining to him that he had awoken me to tell me this and 30 minutes earlier I was challenging myself he thought for a moment then uttered an expletive and proceeded to fine me £120 for each wind (£60 per wind, 2 winds in low gear) of my trailer legs.
He let me off with an advisory for my barn doors being open though as I was being unloaded.
Edit: A good rule of thumb (so to speak) for deceiding between Break, POA or Other Work Mode is:
POA: You have time for a quick tug and you know how long it will take.
Other Work: You could get away with a tug but would be missed and its possibly dangerous
Break: You Could happily wander off and give someone else a tug.
Once upon a time at ‘RDC camp’
Love it!
Currently don’t have to take breaks on the bay but have in the past. To me it’s always a case of what suits me. Don’t think I’ve ever spent less than 15 mins on a bay anywhere, or even 30 come to think. Besides, any driver worth their salt should be able to stretch the time to suit themselves. As an hourly paid serf I just don’t see the point of putting it on break then spending the time working, pulling curtains, moving pallets etc.
Slackbladder:
Currently don’t have to take breaks on the bay but have in the past. To me it’s always a case of what suits me. Don’t think I’ve ever spent less than 15 mins on a bay anywhere, or even 30 come to think. Besides, any driver worth their salt should be able to stretch the time to suit themselves. As an hourly paid serf I just don’t see the point of putting it on break then spending the time working, pulling curtains, moving pallets etc.
BINGO 
paid by the hour. 
Should have had a poll on this one,always on break for me.
Klunk
Rhythm Thief:
Also slightly OT … I remember going to Asda at Castleford a few years back and being told I wasn’t allowed out of my cab because it was dangerous, then going on to a Tesco RDC and being told I wasn’t allowed into my cab because it was dangerous. Well, one of them must be wrong …
If I’m allowed to stay in my cab on a bay, I stick it on break. If I’m in the drivers’ pen, it stays on other work. Legal or not, this seems a commonsense approach to me.
Agreed.
There are times though when having the tacho set on break in excess of 45 mins can screw you up later on in the day.
Like the comment about the tug…have to remember that one 
What do all you “other work” advocates do when you’re sat in a RDC cattle pen, keys handed in, tacho ticking away on other work and its about to tick over the WTD nonsense I keep reading about on here? What is it, 6 hours or so of driving/other work? Or what about if you’re ticking away nicely on crossed hammers and you then exceed the 13/15 hour window and the zealot behind the bullet proof window at the goods in desk wont give your keys back? I suppose you could leave your cab door unlocked and walk back but if you’re one who lives in the truck all week and has a multitude of valuables thats not really an option. I know these issues do come up because there have being posts on here about it and worried individuals desperately seeking reassurance that their tacho crime wont see them sent to the salt mines by Vosa if they discover it at a later date.
manic-merc:
When I was a kid, all great stories started - ‘once upon a time…’Now I drive trucks, all great stories start - ‘this driver was pulled by VOSA and…’
When My eldest son was 4-5 years old He had this story book about the life of a truck driver, obviously geared to that age group. He would often want me to read it to him as a bedtime story, which involved me changing the story book scenarios to more real world time spans, such as “martin the mechanic took 3hrs to turn up and fix the tyre” and “when he arrived at the port, the dockers were on strike”.
You just made me think off that