As a Driver if I was to stay overnight at the side of the road or in a service area would I be ON DUTY as a security guard on my vehicle or load
as this would affect my rest periods
No !
You won’t be on duty, but the load is your responsibility, so if you park outside a ‘Travellers Camp’ & expect all your diesel & all that Whisky on the back to be on there in the morning- it will probably come out of your wages !
It’s down to common sense really, I don’t park in lay-bys if I’ve got a high value load on & use other Palletline depots if the load’s worth a few quid.
if the company don’t pay for or don’t provide secure parking then that’s their look out ! Just ring 'em & tell them you are out of time & you’re going to park up in ‘Scally End Lane’ layby !
What if I here some one out side of my vehicle in the middle of the night
as I was a company man so I got out of my cab to see what’s going on
Then this would affect my overnight rest
Or perhaps a busy lay-by and the other users are disturbing my rest
If I am responsible then I am on Duty
am I not ■■?
If an incident were to happen whilst overnighting in the cab then simply do a manual record and extend the rest period to compensate
The authorities would not stand any chance of a conviction for rest infringement in circumstances where it would be deemed as an emergency
You could end up there all week.
solidpine:
What if I here some one out side of my vehicle in the middle of the night
as I was a company man so I got out of my cab to see what’s going onThen this would affect my overnight rest
If you got out of the vehicle to investigate a noise I would say that you was doing it of your own choice rather than carrying out your employers instructions, therefore you would not be interrupting your rest period.
solidpine:
Or perhaps a busy lay-by and the other users are disturbing my restIf I am responsible then I am on Duty
am I not ■■?
No, presumably you choose where you will park up so live with the consequences.
You could do what has been suggested and do a manual record, but if the manual record was made just because your rest was interrupted by noisy people I’m guessing you could experience some serious laughing when you told VOSA about it.
Obviously if you was the victim of a hijack or attempted hijack, or if actual damage was done to the vehicle you would have grounds for interrupting the rest period, it would then be classed as an emergency.
No way are you ever going to convince anyone that noisy neighbours in a busy lay-by was an emergency 
No offence intended, but given the questions you’re asking do you think perhaps you should avoid jobs that require nights out ?