Hello peeps I was put in a serious situation the other day where I had no choice but to exceed my 15 hour spread, I got stuck in a stand still on the a38 so pulled of to try and get to fradley park through lichfield but ended up in whittington… Got stuck at a low bridge where there were no signs and had no choice but to back out over this really really narrow canal bridge which took me almost an hour. I ended up doing 16 hours, how long will this be on my digi and will I be banned if pulled?? Really paranoid because I’m getting mixed answers of people who don’t seem to know nothin.
It will be on the card for a long time, a year is more than possible. Driver’s hours offences have a 6 month time statute on them so after 6 months you should be in the clear of prosecution. Take two printouts, write an explanation as to why you went over on both and keep one for 6 months, so you can show it if you get stopped, and hand the other into the office.
Oh and by the way, it’s really not worth ‘losing’ your card unless you can also lose the truck you were driving, or at least the VU out of it. I say that because without a doubt someone will suggest that option to you. 
I still have yet to be pulled by vosa or the police in 18 months but if i do will it points or ban? Or just a fine?
PS thanks for the reply
Williams9881:
I still have yet to be pulled by vosa or the police in 18 months but if i do will it points or ban? Or just a fine?PS thanks for the reply
You are unlikely to get banned if pulled. For example, the Fixed Penalty for insufficient daily rest, which is what you would be done for, is £60 if you are short by up to 1 hour, £120 if you are short by 1 - 2 hours or £200 if short 2- 3 hours, no points. A one off incident shouldn’t attract a ban, especially if you have a written explanation. The written explanation doesn’t remove the infringement but it shows you were aware of it.
Depends on the vosa man but once your not doing it every day and your cards are ok you shouldn’t have a problem at all, these things happen and the vosa men know it. As long as you have the printout I’d say they’d let you away with it. Worst case scenario a fine.
Thankyou both for the replies its a massive weight of my shoulders people saying I’d get banned lol! Was literally getting my sign on book out ready 
no need now cheers fellas!
A small point not yet mentioned - you must still take the required daily rest after doing 16 hours
If you end up in the situation again, do a printout and write the reason on the back of the printout.
you can’t be prosecuted for it.
They have to be able to prove that you had total disregard for the regulations.
why didn’t you just stick a magnet on?
limeyphil:
why didn’t you just stick a magnet on?
Insufficient daily rest of up to 1 hour = £60, but in this situation nothing.
Installing a product which interferes with the functioning of a tachograph = 2 years in prison and/or a fine of up to £5000.
I wonder why anyone would think putting a magnet on would be a better idea?
Yet another example of stress and worry being heaped on to a driver, not by his job or so called long hours but by the very rules that are supposed in theory to protect us all (yeah right). What a ridiculous situation the UK and Europe is in when ordinary people are scared to extremes by such trivial nonsense.
No wonder drivers in the UK complain of stress and fatigue. Driving a truck should be so simple, like walking from one end of a football pitch to the other, yet its being made so needlessly complicated by endless legislation from all directions so that simple stroll turns in to something along the lines of covering the same distance but by doing star jumps and backward flips. What a joke. I feel sorry for people coming in to the industry now who go home in an evening or the end of the week so scared they dont know if they’ll have a job to go back to because they commited a poxy miniscule offence. Maybe the OP should be transported to the colonies or be publically hanged in Tyburn.
FFS Why does driving a truck from A to B have to be so complicated?
robinhood_1984:
Yet another example of stress and worry being heaped on to a driver, not by his job or so called long hours but by the very rules that are supposed in theory to protect us all (yeah right). What a ridiculous situation the UK and Europe is in when ordinary people are scared to extremes by such trivial nonsense.
They are only scared by a lack of knowledge of the rules and/or listening to people who talk ■■■■■■■■. It was a one off and, provided he does the printouts, I suspect the worst he would get if stopped was a warning not to make a habit of it. People blowing it out of proportion and telling him he would get banned caused his fear, not the regulations.
robinhood_1984:
I feel sorry for people coming in to the industry now who go home in an evening or the end of the week so scared they dont know if they’ll have a job to go back to because they commited a poxy miniscule offence. Maybe the OP should be transported to the colonies or be publically hanged in Tyburn.FFS Why does driving a truck from A to B have to be so complicated?
There is an official get out using Article 12, but other bits of the regulations are giving you problems.
We are talking of 15 and 16 hour days, the norm is 13 hours with 11 hours rest, it seems as though the OP was trying to get somewhere important and his planner has used the reduction. (perfectly legally) You got held up. (It happens)
Just remember that even if you did get to Fradley Park, using Article 12, you can’t go anywhere else, it only allows you to find safe or secure parking. Not tip the load off your card
A call earlier in the shift as soon as the hold-up happens should give the planner time to rearrange things.
Something like. “Right stay there. Drop your trailer and Jim will tip it for you, give me a ring in the morning after your 9 off”
Unfortunately with all these company infringements and official regulations, the driver is at fault every time, whether you got the load off or not.
By the way, you wont get get banned from driving
ROG:
A small point not yet mentioned - you must still take the required daily rest after doing 16 hours
How would that be possible ROG?
For sure the OP could take nine hours Rest for practical reasons. It would be impossible to count that final hour to be within the required twenty four hour period.
There is a clipping from Commercial Motor on the notice board at DSV. Some drivers from the Linconshire area tried to do what you suggested and faced heavy fines as a result.
W
robinhood_1984:
Yet another example of stress and worry being heaped on to a driver, not by his job or so called long hours but by the very rules that are supposed in theory to protect us all (yeah right). What a ridiculous situation the UK and Europe is in when ordinary people are scared to extremes by such trivial nonsense.
No wonder drivers in the UK complain of stress and fatigue. Driving a truck should be so simple, like walking from one end of a football pitch to the other, yet its being made so needlessly complicated by endless legislation from all directions so that simple stroll turns in to something along the lines of covering the same distance but by doing star jumps and backward flips. What a joke. I feel sorry for people coming in to the industry now who go home in an evening or the end of the week so scared they dont know if they’ll have a job to go back to because they commited a poxy miniscule offence. Maybe the OP should be transported to the colonies or be publically hanged in Tyburn.FFS Why does driving a truck from A to B have to be so complicated?
I admire your sentiment but I think you are barking up the wrong tree fella.
Just to use your analogy, how would you feel if driving from A (Manchester) to B (Milan) didn’t have any of those silly problems like proper rest or breaks?
As far as the over complicated rules for new entrants, I’ve only seen a couple of noteworthy changes in nearly the last twenty years (and they simplified things).
W
AlexWignall:
ROG:
A small point not yet mentioned - you must still take the required daily rest after doing 16 hoursHow would that be possible ROG?
For sure the OP could take nine hours Rest for practical reasons. It would be impossible to count that final hour to be within the required twenty four hour period.
There is a clipping from Commercial Motor on the notice board at DSV. Some drivers from the Linconshire area tried to do what you suggested and faced heavy fines as a result.
W
A “Daily rest period” is the daily period in which the driver may freely dispose of his time, even when the required 9/11 hours daily rest can’t be fitted into the 24 hour period from start of shift you are still expected to have the required 9/11 hours daily rest even though it won’t meet the legal requirements of article 8 (EC) 561/2006.
tachograph:
AlexWignall:
ROG:
A small point not yet mentioned - you must still take the required daily rest after doing 16 hoursHow would that be possible ROG?
For sure the OP could take nine hours Rest for practical reasons. It would be impossible to count that final hour to be within the required twenty four hour period.
There is a clipping from Commercial Motor on the notice board at DSV. Some drivers from the Linconshire area tried to do what you suggested and faced heavy fines as a result.
W
A “Daily rest period” is the daily period in which the driver may freely dispose of his time, even when the required 9/11 hours daily rest can’t be fitted into the 24 hour period from start of shift you are still expected to have the required 9/11 hours daily rest even though it won’t meet the legal requirements of article 8 (EC) 561/2006.
How would having an extra hours rest the following day mitigate against failing to take sufficient daily rest within the required twenty four hour period Tachograph?
I’ve just checked the VOSA handbook and I can’t see the bit where insufficient daily rest may be compensated for in the following twenty four hour period.
Obviously the drivers I mentioned in Linconshire ‘expected’ it would be okay to carry over their daily rest period. Unfortunatly the TC thought otherwise.
It’s not my style to question one of the great ‘legal minds’ of TNUK so if I have missed something I’m happy for you to point it out to me.
W
AlexWignall:
I’ve just checked the VOSA handbook and I can’t see the bit where insufficient daily rest may be compensated for in the following twenty four hour period.
Article 12 of 561/2006 gives a derogation for the rest to be completed within the 24-hour period.
Go over your ‘15’ by an hour because of a delay for an accident and traffic jam, invoke article 12 and write an explanation then take a 9-hour rest = no problem.
Go over your ‘15’ by an hour because of a delay for an accident and traffic jam, invoke article 12 and write an explanation then take an 8-hour rest = problem. The written explanation now means nothing and you will be open to a fine for insufficient daily rest because article 12 doesn’t allow less rest to be taken, just when it must be completed by.
AlexWignall:
How would having an extra hours rest the following day mitigate against failing to take sufficient daily rest within the required twenty four hour period Tachograph?
It wouldn’t
What I’m saying and what ROG has said is that even though an offence may have been committed by having insufficient daily rest within the 24 hour period the daily rest of 9 or 11 hours should still be taken.
Coffeeholic:
AlexWignall:
I’ve just checked the VOSA handbook and I can’t see the bit where insufficient daily rest may be compensated for in the following twenty four hour period.Article 12 of 561/2006 gives a derogation for the rest to be completed within the 24-hour period.
Go over your ‘15’ by an hour because of a delay for an accident and traffic jam, invoke article 12 and write an explanation then take a 9-hour rest = no problem.
Go over your ‘15’ by an hour because of a delay for an accident and traffic jam, invoke article 12 and write an explanation then take an 8-hour rest = problem. The written explanation now means nothing and you will be open to a fine for insufficient daily rest because article 12 doesn’t allow less rest to be taken, just when it must be completed by.
Haha, I’m really out of my comfort zone now.
In the paragraph titled ‘Unforseen Events’ in the handbook it states that a driver may depart from the rules, nothing about making good any lost rest time.
Just checked the wording on Article 12 in 561/2006 and it says nothing about lost rest time there either.
Naturally, I would agree with you, Tachograph and ROG that it would be the ‘right’ thing to take a minimum nine hour rest period after an unforseen delay which would take my duty time over fifteen hours.
W