The company I work for sends a couple of trucks a week via Dover to Europe. We are all struggling to get back to the port and over to UK within our working day. Some of our drivers have started to use ferry mode to extend their day. Can this be legal. I would say not on the Calais crossing, but their argument is that it is ok from Dunkerque, as the DFDS ferry hay a couchette in the quiet area, and the rules say that the driver has to have ACCESS only to a bunk or couchette.
You can not extend your working day (double manning excepted) to more than 15 hours regardless of whatever mode you use. Ferry mode is only for you to legally interrupt a daily break in order to embark/disembark from a ferry .
This is a valid point and a good question to be raised, with reference to a bunk or couchette to sleep on while on a ferry, i have heard stories of drivers being fined when a ship has no sleeping facilities, but if you were fined in Belgium or Germany, how would the police know if the ship had a bunk or couchette, he or she would have to prove it with evidence.
Some drivers keep the ferry ticket to prove the rest was broken, but there is no law or rule that says you must show a ferry ticket.
The issue is with short sea crossings such as Dover/Calais/Dover where some or most ships do not access to a bunk or couchette, a sofa or big seat is not acceptable in the rules or sleeping on the floor.
On the Calais, Le Havre , Cherbourg and Caen sailings i sleep in my cab in the lorry below decks, which is risky if it sinks or there is a fire or Adr incident, as nobody would know you are there, but you sleep better with no fellow drivers snoring/■■■■■■■ or coming back from the bar at silly o clock.
toby1234abc:
Some drivers keep the ferry ticket to prove the rest was broken, but there is no law or rule that says you must show a ferry ticket.
well it’s your problem to prove, that a daily rest of, say, 6 hours was in fact a part of a legal ferry rest. I use it quite often but always keep the ticket where it clearly states my name, the reg of the lorry and the fact that I have a cabin to use.
toby1234abc:
On the Calais, Le Havre , Cherbourg and Caen sailings i sleep in my cab in the lorry below decks, .
While I agree with you Toby, on the Calais route, done it myself, but I don’t think that you would get away with staying in your cab on Brittany ferries routes.
On the Brittany and LV lines, the trick was not to be seen by the ships crew, after you have parked inside the ferry, get on the bunk quickly, pull over the cab split curtains prior to boarding.
The heat and the smell below decks is not pleasant, plus the noise of the ships engines, not much fresh air, but you do not get disturbed.
toby1234abc:
This is a valid point and a good question to be raised, with reference to a bunk or couchette to sleep on while on a ferry, i have heard stories of drivers being fined when a ship has no sleeping facilities, but if you were fined in Belgium or Germany, how would the police know if the ship had a bunk or couchette, he or she would have to prove it with evidence.
Some drivers keep the ferry ticket to prove the rest was broken, but there is no law or rule that says you must show a ferry ticket.
The issue is with short sea crossings such as Dover/Calais/Dover where some or most ships do not access to a bunk or couchette, a sofa or big seat is not acceptable in the rules or sleeping on the floor.
On the Calais, Le Havre , Cherbourg and Caen sailings i sleep in my cab in the lorry below decks, which is risky if it sinks or there is a fire or Adr incident, as nobody would know you are there, but you sleep better with no fellow drivers snoring/■■■■■■■ or coming back from the bar at silly o clock.
Having been crew on the old Norfolkline Dover to dunkerque boats I can say with some certainty, they know your in there. Most crew turn a blind eye, especially to regulars, but sometimes the mate wants to clamp down on it and we had to go banging on cab doors, and then there are always some ■■■■■■■■■ who like being awkward and sending everyone upstairs.
Very true that it’s risky, even when they know your there, when the ■■■■ hits the fan your on your own!
milodon:
toby1234abc:
Some drivers keep the ferry ticket to prove the rest was broken, but there is no law or rule that says you must show a ferry ticket.well it’s your problem to prove, that a daily rest of, say, 6 hours was in fact a part of a legal ferry rest. I use it quite often but always keep the ticket where it clearly states my name, the reg of the lorry and the fact that I have a cabin to use.
Thats how understand it, you have to be able to PROVE you had a cabin to sleep in. Afaik a normal ferry ticket would not suffice.
With regard to current delays last few months it’s out of your control
I ship over regardless and so does friends of mine
I’m
Not queuing for 3/4 hours then pulling out and starting again the next day
4 weeks ago stopped by Vosa
Night before had 19 hr spread
Week before 21 hour
Week before that 16.5 hour
All times went into Folkestone took 9 off did printout with reason then carried on
Vosa were more than happy and said we understand the problems as long as take a 9 we not worried as out your control
Friend mine had similar in Newport the other week to and they weren’t even interested in the printout
Been controlled in France and Germany to and no problems
Never had a problem with split breaks on dover calais vosa have never mentioned about couchettes or bunks often here of tales of prosecution but not from anyone I know so will carry on always keep tickets it makes life easier especially in Europe and as tickets double up as keys to your room when on Brittany there’s no better proof
Heard about the “access to bed/couchette” ref ferry mode on the short-sea Scots/NI routes too.
I wonder if carrying a fold-out camping type “bed in a bag” type thing would work??
After all it doesn’t say what actual “type” of bed a driver needs access to on a boat!!!
What some do is providing that they still have a 15hr day left, if they make calais port or ET before 13hrs is start their daily rest once in the lanes & use the ferry mode for the 2 movements ,drive of ferry/train and find somewhere to park for the next 9hrs but clocking up 15hrs on duty and then using ferry mode ,is gonna get you a fine
tommy t:
What some do is providing that they still have a 15hr day left, if they make calais port or ET before 13hrs is start their daily rest once in the lanes & use the ferry mode for the 2 movements ,drive of ferry/train and find somewhere to park for the next 9hrs but clocking up 15hrs on duty and then using ferry mode ,is gonna get you a fine
I’m happy to be corrected Tommy but I always thought that using the ferry mode within a 15 hour day was acceptable, however you can’t have a 9 off afterwards, it has to be 11 minimum?
Big Truck:
Heard about the “access to bed/couchette” ref ferry mode on the short-sea Scots/NI routes too.
I wonder if carrying a fold-out camping type “bed in a bag” type thing would work??
After all it doesn’t say what actual “type” of bed a driver needs access to on a boat!!!
P&0 wont let you take bedding/pillows bags etc outwith the car deck anymore as about 5 years ago 1 of the boats had to be put out of service till they fumigated it for fleas due to someone infested kipping on the seats etc…this would be a similar type of person that made things difficult for just kipping in the cab for a couple of hours while crossing after they took a dump on the car deck underneath a trailer and left it there as a uxb.make your own mind up as to what group of society they were deemed to be… 
dieseldog999:
Big Truck:
Heard about the “access to bed/couchette” ref ferry mode on the short-sea Scots/NI routes too.
I wonder if carrying a fold-out camping type “bed in a bag” type thing would work??
After all it doesn’t say what actual “type” of bed a driver needs access to on a boat!!!P&0 wont let you take bedding/pillows bags etc outwith the car deck anymore as about 5 years ago 1 of the boats had to be put out of service till they fumigated it for fleas due to someone infested kipping on the seats etc…this would be a similar type of person that made things difficult for just kipping in the cab for a couple of hours while crossing after they took a dump on the car deck underneath a trailer and left it there as a uxb.make your own mind up as to what group of society they were deemed to be…
Don’t intend to actually use the “bed in a bag” DD,
just to show to DVSA if asked about the “access to”.
If needing to really kip for the 2hr crossing I just jump into the bunk as deckhands don’t seem to bother much 
the maoster:
tommy t:
What some do is providing that they still have a 15hr day left, if they make calais port or ET before 13hrs is start their daily rest once in the lanes & use the ferry mode for the 2 movements ,drive of ferry/train and find somewhere to park for the next 9hrs but clocking up 15hrs on duty and then using ferry mode ,is gonna get you a fineI’m happy to be corrected Tommy but I always thought that using the ferry mode within a 15 hour day was acceptable, however you can’t have a 9 off afterwards, it has to be 11 minimum?
If you get to the port and the next ferry is say in 1hrs time from the time you park in the lanes and start your daily rest,useing ferry mode to get on and off the boat, you will get 2.5hrs rest in total before you land at Dover then you find somewhere nearby to park for the remainder , certainly beats parking around calais
It isn’t any different(theoretically ) than getting the ferry from Portsmouth to caen ,a 7hrs or so crossing , then using ferry mode to move off boat and park up, and continue daily rest until the 11hrs has elapsed
15+11 =26 So no 15 and then 11hrs rest, or you wouldn’t of had enough daily rest within the 24hr period
During a Ferry Crossing / Transport by Train, a Full Daily Rest Period of 11 Hours can be interrupted twice for a total of no more than 1 Hour.
This ruling means that a ferry crossing of less than 11 hours can be used as part of a Full Daily rest with half an hour being allowed for driving onto and driving off of the Ferry. A sleeping area must be available at all times throughout the Rest period.
tommy t:
During a Ferry Crossing / Transport by Train, a Full Daily Rest Period of 11 Hours can be interrupted twice for a total of no more than 1 Hour.
This ruling means that a ferry crossing of less than 11 hours can be used as part of a Full Daily rest with half an hour being allowed for driving onto and driving off of the Ferry. A sleeping area must be available at all times throughout the Rest period.
There is the minor problem of the last bit of your quote, the bit I’ve highlighted in red.
On a channel crossing, you don’t have access to a bed, bunk or couchette, so technically ferry mode is invalid.
On the other hand lots of people have said they do this frequently and haven’t had a problem with it when pulled over for a VOSA check.
Simon:
tommy t:
During a Ferry Crossing / Transport by Train, a Full Daily Rest Period of 11 Hours can be interrupted twice for a total of no more than 1 Hour.
This ruling means that a ferry crossing of less than 11 hours can be used as part of a Full Daily rest with half an hour being allowed for driving onto and driving off of the Ferry. A sleeping area must be available at all times throughout the Rest period.
There is the minor problem of the last bit of your quote, the bit I’ve highlighted in red.
On a channel crossing, you don’t have access to a bed, bunk or couchette, so technically ferry mode is invalid.
On the other hand lots of people have said they do this frequently and haven’t had a problem with it when pulled over for a VOSA check.
Yes but mr stoneridge, or seimens don’t know this do they? and lets face it there is a very small chance of being stopped by DVSA at dover, especially late at night ,and with the current situation in calais i doubt that they would be too bothered as a one off, as you have already said, at the end of the day yes the vehicle maybe in the uk , so saving some 2-3hrs the next shift, but as long as the driver is getting 9hrs or more daily rest, as sometimes i have done the ferry mode just to get over to the uk, then parked up and had 11 off, even though 2 of those hrs may not of counted because not within the 24hr period , but i still had 11 off