Good morning , i currently work a 4 on 4 off shift pattern 12 hours per shift less 1 hour meal break. this is a rolling shift pattern so it moves on a day at the beginning of each working week , im looking to gain experience driving my recently acquired class 2 licence , but looking at the driving hours mine field it looks like im limited to what hours i can legally drive . any information or similar experiences . many thank …
Billy26:
Good morning , i currently work a 4 on 4 off shift pattern 12 hours per shift less 1 hour meal break. this is a rolling shift pattern so it moves on a day at the beginning of each working week , im looking to gain experience driving my recently acquired class 2 licence , but looking at the driving hours mine field it looks like im limited to what hours i can legally drive . any information or similar experiences . many thank …
Ignore WTD as non driving job and driving job hours do not get added together so that is that bit out of the way 
Your only concern is going to be tacho rest rules
In each fixed week which is sunday midnight to sunday midnight you need at least a 45 rest every other week and at least a 24 in the intervening weeks
Lets do an example where work means the non driving job and drive means the driving job
mon to thu work
fri + sat drive
sun + mon off = 45+ rest
tue to fri work
sat drive
sun off = 24+ rest
mon + tue drive
wed to sat work
sun + mon = 45+ rest
tue drive
wed 24+ rest
thu to sun work
mon + tue drive
wed + thu = 45+ rest
fri to sun work
etc etc
You can see that there is never more than 6 shifts done in a row and the weekly rests have been adhered to
No doubt another member will look at this example and point out any errors I might have made
Billy26:
Good morning , i currently work a 4 on 4 off shift pattern 12 hours per shift less 1 hour meal break. this is a rolling shift pattern so it moves on a day at the beginning of each working week , im looking to gain experience driving my recently acquired class 2 licence , but looking at the driving hours mine field it looks like im limited to what hours i can legally drive . any information or similar experiences . many thank …
As ROG has said, assuming that your full time job does not have anything to do with travelling on vehicles that are in-scope of EU regulations you can forget about the RT(WT)R and the 1998 WTD.
For the EU regulations:
- A week (often referred to as a fixed week) is 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday.
- A working week (people often refer to a working week and this is the time between weekly rest periods).
- A weekly rest period can be either a regular weekly rest period or a reduced weekly rest period and is time when you can freely dispose of of your time (so basically it’s time that you’re not at work).
- A regular weekly rest period is a rest period of no less than 45 consecutive hours.
- A reduced weekly rest period is a rest period of no less than 24 consecutive hours.
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You must start a new weekly rest period no later than six 24 hour periods (144 hours) from the end of the previous weekly rest period.
- Lets say you start your usual job at 06:00 Monday then work Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and drive on Friday and Saturday, for the EU regulations your usual job would count as other work so you would need to start a weekly rest period no later than 06:00 Sunday (144 hours from the end of the previous weekly rest period).
- OR*
- Lets say you drive on Monday and Tuesday after a weekly rest period then work in your usual job Wednesday to Saturday, your working week would begin when you start the driving job on Monday so if you start the driving job at 04:00 on Monday you would need to start a new weekly rest period no later than 04:00 the following Sunday.
- In each week you must have a weekly rest period, this can be a reduced weekly rest period every second week.*
-In other words, in any two consecutive weeks that you’re driving in-scope of EU regulations you must have either - two regular weekly rest periods
- OR*
- a regular weekly rest period and a reduced weekly rest period.
[/*:m][/list:u] - However when you reduce a weekly rest period you must pay back compensation no later than the end of the third week following the week for which the reduced weekly rest period was taken.
- Compensation is the amount of the weekly rest period that was not taken, a 24 hour reduced weekly rest period would leave you needing to pay back compensation of 21 hours rest.
- Compensation can be added onto any rest period of 9 hours or more but must be paid back in one block of rest (it cannot be split up).
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A weekly rest period (Regular or reduced) that crosses two weeks (Sunday/Monday) can be counted for either week but not both.
As a new driver who’s trying to get your head around the drivers regulations it may pay you to stick to having a 45 hour weekly rest period every week until you understand the rules more clearly.
The example given by ROG will work and allow you to maximise your driving experience, however if you don’t fully understand what rest periods you must take and what and when compensation should be paid back it could get a tad messy 
Working a 4 on 4 off system in your usual job should give you more time to drive HGVs than many people driving part time.
The good news is that when you fully understand when you can or cannot legally work you can start learning all the other regulations