So I have requested leave at work and been told when I get back I have to sign a gap letter to say I haven’t completed any other work using tacho during this time! Is this a normal request as I have been told I cant even driver assess if I sign this gap letter. Which I will add I wont be signing, I want to book some time off and get some class 1 experience during my holiday time, and this will prevent me from doing so! Is this a legal requirement or just some company request that I wont be abiding to? I have attached the gap letter without my employers details so you can have a look and see what you think.
Company thing. It’ll be so they conform to the WTD in logging your hours as in work
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ash 001:
I want to book some time off and get some class 1 experience during my holiday time, and this will prevent me from doing so!
You ought to check that this is not expressly forbidden in your contract of employment.
Im guessing you have said something to your boss in passing before about doing class 1 work on your time off? No where i have worked have asked me to sign something like this before time off.
But as the Monk says i have it in my contract not to do extra driving for other people that could affect working my full time driving job.
Can you no try and get some class 1 experience on a rest day? holiday leave still counts as towards your wtd.
san miguel:
Can you no try and get some class 1 experience on a rest day? holiday leave still counts as towards your wtd.
A Rest day is supposed to be that, a rest day, that means not working for somebody else.
unless it’s on a jobs list given to you by your wife or partner. 
Only company I know that does gap letters are Dhl never understood why though.
mrginge:
Im guessing you have said something to your boss in passing before about doing class 1 work on your time off? No where i have worked have asked me to sign something like this before time off.But as the Monk says i have it in my contract not to do extra driving for other people that could affect working my full time driving job.
Or told the company “brown noser” who has gone straight to the boss, 
Especially as the form hasn’t taken much effort to make as it’s a slightly modified copy of the old version of a letter of attestation.
merc0447:
Only company I know that does gap letters are Dhl never understood why though.
DHL was the only place i worked where you had to download your card before and after EVERY shift.
mrginge:
merc0447:
Only company I know that does gap letters are Dhl never understood why though.DHL was the only place i worked where you had to download your card before and after EVERY shift.
Our place does that too, although it’s not strictly enforced as far as I’m aware.
It’s an arse covering excercise so the company can see you’ve not been doing work for anyone else inbetween shifts.
** Newsflash **
Companies generally aren’t keen on their assets performing work for other companies.
And in other news, the sky is blue.
Seriously, have a conversation and lay it all there to them, they might let you do it if you explain everything. Your holiday counts towards WTD anyway, just means you couldn’t drive when you should be on a rest period, but other than that there is no reason why you couldn’t drive a truck.
We have gap letters, basically it’s worded to show that the company is aware there is a gap in our tachograph records and the reason why. Just housekeeping for the office bods.
I thought attestation forms are completed after your time of, as it contains the “from” and “to” dates.
Saying that i was informed there now not needed if you fill in everything on the digi tacho.
I still use them as it makes life easier when in europe with arsey traffic cops.
Holiday is Holiday.
I understand they wouldnt like if you drive for a Rival of your Company
Wouldnt be good if your Working Time would go up and you have to pay back when back at Employer
Some Company forbit completly doin other Work for other Companies for many Reasons.
Beter you ask before goin on Holiday
Immigrant:
Holiday is Holiday.
I understand they wouldnt like if you drive for a Rival of your Company
Wouldnt be good if your Working Time would go up and you have to pay back when back at Employer
Some Company forbit completly doin other Work for other Companies for many Reasons.
Beter you ask before goin on Holiday
Attestation forms have option boxes, you can only tick one of them. It is a form to show why there is a gap in your last 28 days of tacho records.
It covers sick leave, holiday, other work, driving a vehicle that doesnt have/need a tacho. Etc etc
Firstly, one would think a company would just download your digicard - and have a go at you only and if there’s “foreign yard driving” on the card at that point.
If employers insist upon signing up to deals such as “Thou shalt not work for any other yard but me - for I am a jealous company” - then we could take the implication from that - agency work and agency rates are a bit cushier than we’ve been led to believe over the whole industry. 
Sorry about my slow reply guys I have had a busy afternoon, this letter is not specifically for me it is for every employee that takes holiday. They already know I have my class 1 and we now have class 1 on site under different contracts, so its not as if I am driving for the “opposition” if I go do a shift for them. As for my WTD my average hours are already too high but as long as I stay in my 60 hour week regulations I should be ok. So I cant drive unless its my normal days off due to holiday still counting towards WTD? As for someone saying driving on one of my days off, due to the hours I work it is nearly impossible for me to drive for anyone else as I have a 1 day window in 3 weeks.
ash 001:
Sorry about my slow reply guys I have had a busy afternoon, this letter is not specifically for me it is for every employee that takes holiday. They already know I have my class 1 and we now have class 1 on site under different contracts, so its not as if I am driving for the “opposition” if I go do a shift for them. As for my WTD my average hours are already too high but as long as I stay in my 60 hour week regulations I should be ok. So I cant drive unless its my normal days off due to holiday still counting towards WTD? As for someone saying driving on one of my days off, due to the hours I work it is nearly impossible for me to drive for anyone else as I have a 1 day window in 3 weeks.
If your WTD hours are already high, then I can’t see how doing another 60 + the 48 hours included in a weeks statutory leave is going to help you bring the average below 48?
As for doing it on you days off? If your days off are weekly rest periods then I can’t see how you can legally do this as well as not only will it add toy your WTD hours it will also break you weekly rest periods for your driving hours regs?
If you worked for a company that gave you more than 28 days leave each year, including Bank Holidays, then you can use those extra days as they don’t count under WTD.
A lot of companies already have a clause on their contract about driving for other employees during rest periods and annual leave, to control the WTD and drivers hours of their employees, not because of jealousy, but because they want all the hours you’re allowed to work to be for them and they don’t want to fall fowl of the law and risk their operators licence because their drivers get caught exceeding driving hours, because of drivers moonlighting.
Your company has taken this a stage further and require drivers to sign a document to say they haven’t driven, I think they’d have a pretty good case for disciplinary action, if they checked your card and found you’d been driving after you’d signed a document saying your hadn’t.
However if the same company at the same place have a contract which uses artics, why aren’t you asking if you can drive those?
One of our drivers got sacked a couple of years ago, took a holiday & worked for an agency, got pulled in when he got back & was given his marching orders, I thought it was a bit harsh, maybe a written warning would have been the correct way to deal with it, but rules are rules & if your face doesn’t fit (& all that !)