I am new to the industry and have done my best to get my head around drivers hours and wtd but there is one thing i cannot seem to find an answer or guidance on.
i am under the impression weekly rest needs to be taken by 6 34 hour periods from the end of the previous one??
So if i finish my working week on saturday 1800 and commence my weekly rest until monday 0400 (34 hours), i work until 1500 monday but have tuesday and wedneday off and return to work thursday at 0400 (59 hours break) - my question is can this be counted as weekly rest even though i only worked one day since my last weekly rest?
I am new to the industry and have done my best to get my head around drivers hours and wtd but there is one thing i cannot seem to find an answer or guidance on.
i am under the impression weekly rest needs to be taken by 6 34 hour periods from the end of the previous one??
So if i finish my working week on saturday 1800 and commence my weekly rest until monday 0400 (34 hours), i work until 1500 monday but have tuesday and wedneday off and return to work thursday at 0400 (59 hours break) - my question is can this be counted as weekly rest even though i only worked one day since my last weekly rest?
Thankyou in advance
YES is the simple answer
Assume 6x34 is a typo and you meant to post 6x24
Any period of 24 or more hours off in one go is a weekly restunless the driver has used that time as payback for another reduced weekly rest so leaves less than 24 hours
Example - take 34 hours off - use 24 as reduced weekly rest and 10 as payback = reduced weekly rest but use more than 10 as payback and there is not 24 left for a minimum reduced weekly rest
A driver can have more than one weekly rest in a week but only needs to choose one as the weekly rest used for that week
The others not used are still weekly rests but do not require any payback
The time between the end of a weekly rest and the start of the next weekly rest can be a maximum of 144 hours or 6 x 24 hours which is the same thing
Taking any weekly rest period off resets the 144 hours to zero
In the example you gave the weekly rest has been reset twice
I am new to the industry and have done my best to get my head around drivers hours and wtd but there is one thing i cannot seem to find an answer or guidance on.
i am under the impression weekly rest needs to be taken by 6 34 hour periods from the end of the previous one??
So if i finish my working week on saturday 1800 and commence my weekly rest until monday 0400 (34 hours), i work until 1500 monday but have tuesday and wedneday off and return to work thursday at 0400 (59 hours break) - my question is can this be counted as weekly rest even though i only worked one day since my last weekly rest?
Thankyou in advance
A weekly rest period must start no later than six 24 hour periods (144 hours) from the end of the last one, you posted six 34 hour periods which presumably is a typo.
Any rest period of 45 hours or more is a regular weekly rest period, any rest period of 24 hours or more but less than 45 hours is a reduced weekly rest period.
A weekly rest period, be it a regular or reduced weekly rest period, always resets the six periods of 24 hours.
In the scenario you’ve posted above you have a 34 hour reduced weekly rest that ends at 04:00 Monday, from then you start a new set of six 24 hours periods so could legally work until 04:00 the following Sunday before having another weekly rest period.
However you then start another weekly rest period of 61 hours which ends at 04:00 Thursday, this again resets the six 24 hour periods so you can now work until 04:00 the following Wednesday before needing to start a new weekly rest period.
A weekly rest period (reduced or regular) always resets the six periods of 24 hours regardless of how many shifts you’ve done between weekly rest periods.
Hi, can i ask a question regarding weekly rest ? If after 6 working days we take a 24 hour break can we then work another 6 days and then take a 45 hour break or do we have to have completed the 45 hour break before then end of the 7 day period? ie work for only another 5 days and then start break. any advice would be appreciated, Thanks. The VOSA hand book is very unclear and it depends how you read it as it states the weekly rest must be taken no later than at the end of the six consecutive 24 hour period.
Steve Barnes:
Hi, can i ask a question regarding weekly rest ? If after 6 working days we take a 24 hour break can we then work another 6 days and then take a 45 hour break or do we have to have completed the 45 hour break before then end of the 7 day period? ie work for only another 5 days and then start break. any advice would be appreciated, Thanks. The VOSA hand book is very unclear and it depends how you read it as it states the weekly rest must be taken no later than at the end of the six consecutive 24 hour period.
6 x 24 = 144
144 hours is the max time between and 2 weekly rests
A weekly rests does not have to fit inside (within) any time frame but does have to be IN (by at least 1 minute) the fixed week you want it to be used for
Thankyou ROG, So just to clarify: 6 days work - 24 hour rest. 6 days work - 45 hours rest. 6 days work - 24 hours rest. 6 days work 45 + compensation. ?
We work away for on average 3 weeks so are home to take all compensation before going out again.
Steve Barnes:
Hi, can i ask a question regarding weekly rest ? If after 6 working days we take a 24 hour break can we then work another 6 days and then take a 45 hour break or do we have to have completed the 45 hour break before then end of the 7 day period? ie work for only another 5 days and then start break. any advice would be appreciated, Thanks. The VOSA hand book is very unclear and it depends how you read it as it states the weekly rest must be taken no later than at the end of the six consecutive 24 hour period.
A weekly rest period must be started no later than six 24 hour periods (144 hours) after the end of the last weekly rest period.
I think what you may be missing is that a weekly rest period can be either a regular weekly rest period or a reduced weekly rest period, so it’s true to say that “A driver must start a weekly rest period no later than at the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods from the end of the last weekly rest period”, but that weekly rest period does not have to be a regular weekly rest period every week.
Page 23 of VOSA’s booklet shows a scenario where a 24 hour weekly rest period has been taken.
Steve Barnes:
So just to clarify: 6 days work - 24 hour rest. 6 days work - 45 hours rest. 6 days work - 24 hours rest. 6 days work 45 + compensation. ?
We work away for on average 3 weeks so are home to take all compensation before going out again.
Compensation for reduced weekly rest periods should be paid back by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest period was taken, so your example would be perfectly legal.
In your first post you talked about working six shifts having a weekly rest period then working another six shifts, this is legal but the thing you need to watch is that a weekly rest period of the correct length falls at-least partly in each fixed week.
In any two consecutive weeks you must have either two regular weekly rest periods or at-least one regular and one reduced weekly rest period, so a regular weekly rest period must fall at-least partly in every second fixed week.
Steve Barnes:
Thankyou ROG, So just to clarify: 6 days work - 24 hour rest. 6 days work - 45 hours rest. 6 days work - 24 hours rest. 6 days work 45 + compensation. ?
We work away for on average 3 weeks so are home to take all compensation before going out again.
How much time do you have off between 3 week stints?
On what DAY do you start the 3 weeks away?
Or does it vary?
Our shift patterns vary. Just as an example one of our drivers departed from Malaga on Monday morning at 7am, he then drove to Denmark with variuos collections and deliveries on route. He started his break on saturday evening at 7pm and then started again on monday at 7am (36hr break). He then drove over to Helsinki and is due to get the ferry back to Stockholm arriving on Saturday morning at 9.30am. Could he then drive back to Copenhagen and start his 45hr break on Saturday evening at say 8pm. starting again on monday afternoon at 5pm ? or would he have to park in the port at Stockholm and take 45 hr rest. He will then drive over to the UK and work until friday evening where he will park around 8pm until Monday morning around 6am (58 hr break, compensation paid back). He will then work in UK taking a ferry back to Denmark on friday arriving on saturday afternoon ,driving to our depot in Copenhagen and then taking a 38hr break before starting again on monday Morning. He will only work for 3 more days before flying back to malaga for a minimum rest period of 1 week.
Steve Barnes:
Our shift patterns vary. Just as an example one of our drivers departed from Malaga on Monday morning at 7am, he then drove to Denmark with variuos collections and deliveries on route. He started his break on saturday evening at 7pm and then started again on monday at 7am (36hr break). He then drove over to Helsinki and is due to get the ferry back to Stockholm arriving on Saturday morning at 9.30am. Could he then drive back to Copenhagen and start his 45hr break on Saturday evening at say 8pm. starting again on monday afternoon at 5pm ?
I’m assuming the driver started from Malaga at 07:00 Monday after a regular 45 hour weekly rest period.
He starts the working week in Denmark at 07:00 Monday after a reduced weekly rest period, so he needs to start a new weekly rest period no later than 07:00 the following Sunday, so yes he could start his next weekly rest period at 20:00 Saturday in Copenhagen.
or would he have to park in the port at Stockholm and take 45 hr rest.
No.
He will then drive over to the UK and work until friday evening where he will park around 8pm until Monday morning around 6am (58 hr break, compensation paid back). He will then work in UK taking a ferry back to Denmark on friday arriving on saturday afternoon ,driving to our depot in Copenhagen and then taking a 38hr break before starting again on monday Morning. He will only work for 3 more days before flying back to malaga for a minimum rest period of 1 week.
Looks legal to me.
