Covid19-Relaxation of driver's hours (Supermarket/RDC work)

Just in case no one has seen this :open_mouth:

gov.uk/government/publicati … -retailers

It says
"In response to requests from Industry, the Department for Transport has, pursuant to Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, agreed to a temporary and limited urgent relaxation of the enforcement of EU drivers’ hours rules in England, Scotland and Wales for the drivers of vehicles involved in the delivery of food, non-food (personal care and household paper and cleaning) and over the counter pharmaceuticals when undertaking the following journeys:

  1. Distribution centre to stores (or fulfilment centre)

  2. From manufacturer or supplier to distribution centre (including backhaul collections)

  3. From manufacturer or supplier to store (or fulfilment centre)

  4. Between distribution centres and transport hub trunking

  5. Transport hub deliveries to stores

This exemption does not apply to drivers undertaking deliveries directly to consumers.

This temporary relaxation applies from 00:01 on Wednesday 18 March 2020 and will run until 23:59 on Thursday 16 April 2020 and will apply only to the drivers specified in this notice. The Department reserves the right to withdraw the relaxation earlier or extend the relaxation if circumstances change.

The department wishes to make clear that driver safety must not be compromised. Drivers should not be expected to drive whilst tired - employers remain responsible for the health and safety of their employees and other road users.

For the drivers and work in question, the EU drivers’ hours rules can be temporarily relaxed as follows:

a) Replacement of the EU daily driving limit of 9 hours with one of 11 hours;

b) Reduction of the daily rest requirements from 11 to 9 hours;

c) Lifting the weekly (56 hours) and fortnightly driving limits (90 hours) to 60 and 96 hours respectively;

d) Postponement of the requirement to start a weekly rest period after six-24 hours periods, for after seven 24 hours period; although two regular weekly rest periods or a regular and a reduced weekly rest period will still be required within a fortnight; [* please explain]

e) The requirements for daily breaks of 45 minutes after 4.5 hours driving replaced with replaced with a break of 45 minutes after 5.5 hours of driving.

Drivers’ must not use relaxation ‘a’ and ‘d’ at the same time. This is to ensure drivers are able to get adequate rest.

The practical implementation of the temporary relaxation should be through agreement between employers and employees and/or driver representatives.

The drivers in question must note on the back of their tachograph charts or printouts the reasons why they are exceeding the normally permitted limits. This is usual practice in emergencies and is, of course, essential for enforcement purposes.

The temporary relaxation of the rules described above reflects the exceptional circumstances stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. The department wishes to emphasise that, as a general rule, we expect business to plan for and manage the risks of disruption to supply chains.

All enquiries regarding interpretation of these temporary arrangements should, in the first instance, be made to the Freight Operator Licensing & Roadworthiness Division at the Department for Transport via the switchboard on 0300 330 3000 (during office hours) or to the DfT Duty Office on 0207 944 5999 (out of office hours).

We will keep these temporary arrangements under review.

17 March 2020, Department for Transport"

The important bits I have highlighted in red.

a] and c] Not really relevant IMO as what would make the difference is the unloading time on the bay i.e. the supermarket employing more staff to reduce this time.

  • The d] Not sure if I follow not having done reduced weekly rest in the past! If I am doing a 5+3 rota. I can now work day 6 (which was the case beforehand anyway) but can also NOW do day 7. But will have to pay back that time in my two following weekly rest periods which are not a fortnight (but presumably written for those that do a Mon to Fri 5 day weekly shift).

Ok to reduce the daily rest BUT in the 9 hours one has also got to get to the shops as one can only at present buy TWO items of anything (as well as commuting (1/2 hour for me) home and cooking some food before going to bed). At present one cannot do a weeks shopping in advance and get all requirements.

That means they are probably going to need more drivers be they experienced or NEWBIES

A good time for newbies to gain that initial experience even if it is for a few months or so :bulb: :question:

jessejazza:
d) Postponement of the requirement to start a weekly rest period after six-24 hours periods, for after seven 24 hours period; although two regular weekly rest periods or a regular and a reduced weekly rest period will still be required within a fortnight; [* please explain]

Any driver on EU regulations must start a weekly rest period no later than six 24 hour periods from the end of th last weekly rest period.

  • If the relaxation applies to you then you can work seven 24 hour periods before you need to start a weekly rest period.

A driver must have either two regular weekly rest periods or one regular weekly rest period and a reduced weekly rest period in any two consecutive weeks.

  • This has not changed.

tachograph:

jessejazza:
d) Postponement of the requirement to start a weekly rest period after six-24 hours periods, for after seven 24 hours period; although two regular weekly rest periods or a regular and a reduced weekly rest period will still be required within a fortnight; [* please explain]

Any driver on EU regulations must start a weekly rest period no later than six 24 hour periods from the end of th last weekly rest period.

  • If the relaxation applies to you then you can work seven 24 hour periods before you need to start a weekly rest period.

A driver must have either two regular weekly rest periods or one regular weekly rest period and a reduced weekly rest period in any two consecutive weeks.

  • This has not changed.

Also if you opt to do 7 days before a regular weekly rest, you cannot do 11hrs drive on any of the preceding 7 days. That’s what we were told the other day

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tachograph:

jessejazza:
d) Postponement of the requirement to start a weekly rest period after six-24 hours periods, for after seven 24 hours period; although two regular weekly rest periods or a regular and a reduced weekly rest period will still be required within a fortnight; [* please explain]

Any driver on EU regulations must start a weekly rest period no later than six 24 hour periods from the end of th last weekly rest period.

  • If the relaxation applies to you then you can work seven 24 hour periods before you need to start a weekly rest period.

A driver must have either two regular weekly rest periods or one regular weekly rest period and a reduced weekly rest period in any two consecutive weeks.

  • This has not changed.

Thanks for your reply - I understood that and I think perhaps I did not word things well.

One has a maximum of 60 hours weekly duty time. Some firms extend it in line with the government website to say that the 60 hours excludes meal breaks (e.g. when I worked for XPO it was compulsory for day work to have 60 min break (but broken up as one chooses like 15, 30,15) which was unpaid time)… thus in effect the weeks duty time was 65 hours and presumably some firms do similar.

I cannot see how one can do the extra day if the 60 hours is not increased. Only possible if one does break for loading times. To work 6 days one averages 10 hour days… 5 days would be 12 hours per day… 4 days would be 15 (well 15,15,15, 13). The changes do not make much difference. The difference is whether the RDC improve their loading/unloading times… which in my visits I have found as variable as before with no improvement. I have been using break as much as possible to provide extra time.

This was discussed already in an earlier thread. The hours relaxation only really affects distance drivers. If you’re a supermarket plobber you’ll never get anywhere near the existing limits - never mind the relaxed limits - so just carry on under the normal rules.