On the dcpc course,they said pay back on the third week,if taken a 24 off,i was led to think,you do not need to do this,as it is 24/45/24/45,and so on in that cycle,and vosa have told me that is no problem,the course guy said,a lot of drivers are getting done for this,and it is the most common infringement,we all forgot to add it on to the third week,and who decided,we would be tired on the third week to catch on work from weeks ago.
You must pay back any reduction in rest before the end of the third week following the reduction. So, for example.
Week 1 - 35 hour weekly rest.
Week 2 - 45 hour weekly rest.
Week 3 - 40 hour weekly rest.
Week 4 - 45 hour weekly rest + 10 hours compensation due from week 1, to be completed before the end of the week at midnight Sunday.
Week 5 - 38 hour weekly rest.
Week 6 - 45 hour weekly rest + 5 hours compensation due from week 3, to be completed before end of the week at midnight Sunday.
You can of course add the compensation onto a daily rest or you could call the rest in week 3 a 30 hour rest + the 10 hours compensation for week 1. That would leave you 15 hours compensation to be made before the end of week 6.
The VOSA guy who told you it was okay to go 45/24/45/24/45/24 is an arse.
Coffeeholic:
The VOSA guy who told you it was okay to go 45/24/45/24/45/24 is an arse.
I honestly think this bloke reads the Beano or is a Beano
Maybe it’s also possible that the info was given correctly, but Toby has misunderstood?
dieseldave:
:idea: Maybe it’s also possible that the info was given correctly, but Toby has misunderstood?
I did consider that possibility but can only form an opinion on the information given. 
Let’s just agree that there was at least one arse involved in that conversation.
Hi Coffee,
Q1. Why does the compensation have to be complete before midnight Sunday on the third week?
Is that the end of the 144 hour period?
Q2. Am I right to understand from your post that compensation can be added to an individual nine hour overnight rest (as long as all the rest falls inside the twenty four hour period from the start of duty)?
I really found the VOSA book hard to follow on this subject and my DCPC Instructors opinion was counter to yours. I look forward to your reply.
W
AlexWignall:
Q1. Why does the compensation have to be complete before midnight Sunday on the third week?
Is that the end of the 144 hour period?
The regulations say that any compensation for a reduced weekly rest period must be paid back by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest period was taken
Which of course would be midnight Sunday of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest period was taken
AlexWignall:
Q2. Am I right to understand from your post that compensation can be added to an individual nine hour overnight rest (as long as all the rest falls inside the twenty four hour period from the start of duty)?
Compensation for a reduced weekly rest period must be taken en block and can be added onto any rest period of at least 9 hours, so yes it can be added onto a reduced daily rest period of 9 hours or more.
If compensation is added onto a reduced or regular daily rest period the daily rest period must be completed within 24 hours from the start of the shift as usual, the compensation does not have to be within the 24 hour period.
AlexWignall:
I really found the VOSA book hard to follow on this subject and my DCPC Instructors opinion was counter to yours. I look forward to your reply.
It would be interesting to know what you were told by your DCPC instructor.
Though to be honest I think you may have misunderstood some of what Coffeeholic has said
Thanks Tachograph,
Taking your compensation inside the third week has answered my question. When I try to read those block diagrams in the Handbook I get a headache.
My DCPC man, bless him, told me that it was impossible to add compensation to an individual nine hour rest. Even though I knew I had read that in the book. The fact that the compensation may go over the initial twenty four hour period is the icing on the cake.
A number of lads at our place use the excuse that they need to compensate for for a previous weekends overtime for an early dart on a Friday. Bit annoying when it’s me and the fair lads who get stitched up for their benifit.
Thanks again,
W
AlexWignall:
My DCPC man, bless him, told me that it was impossible to add compensation to an individual nine hour rest.
I’m afraid it does seem that many DCPC instructors level of knowledge leaves a great deal to be desired 
Anyway I’m glad that’s sorted it out for you
He’s an ex Industry bloke so he should know better. Do these folk sit an exam?
Supplementary question. Does the compensation need to be in hour blocks or can you add all the spare minutes up?
FYI I have never failed to compensate for any overtime I might of done in four years at our place and I do plenty, hence my irritation at a couple of slackers I know.
W
AlexWignall:
Supplementary question. Does the compensation need to be in hour blocks or can you add all the spare minutes up?
The compensation for a reduced weekly rest period should be paid back en block (in one lump), it cannot be paid back a bit at a time.
For instance if you reduce a weekly rest period by 10 hours it must be paid back by adding 10 consecutive hours rest onto any rest period of at least 9 hours.
AlexWignall:
He’s an ex Industry bloke so he should know better. Do these folk sit an exam?
No, as far as I’m aware the only stipulation in setting up as a DCPC instructor is that you should have had previous experience at instructing.
Once the DCPC course is registered the instructor can start taking bookings, apparently no-one monitors the courses or checks to see if the instructor actually knows what he’s talking about 
Now perhaps you will understand why some of us are so critical of the way the “Driver CPC” has been implemented in the UK, it seems to be all about people making money rather than training or improving skills.
I see where my DCPC man made his mistake, thankyou for explaining what the book means by en block.
I just assumed that the DCPC Instructors actually sat an exam. In other words with my Int and Nat Operators CPC, ADR and eighteen years offence free driving I was probably more qualified than him?
After all these months I’ve been on TNUK I can actually see why the members get so revved about DCPC.
W
AlexWignall:
In other words with my Int and Nat Operators CPC, ADR and eighteen years offence free driving I was probably more qualified than him?
Quite likely I’d say
As far as I can remember the instructor only needs to have previous experience at instructing, but as far as I’m aware it could be instructing anything from learning to drive LGV vehicles to giving violin lessons 
I’ll wait to be corrected on that but I don’t really expect to be
I had somebody from RTITB assessing the instructor on the DCPC course I did.
skids:
I had somebody from RTITB assessing the instructor on the DCPC course I did.
Do you think that was because the training school was RTITB affilliated?
If your DCPC course was a good one it might be worth looking out for a RTITB affilliated trainer.
Personally I will use my ADR training for my next DCPC. Sadly my current ADR was out of scope for my DCPC this time round.
W
On the latest dcpc course,we did a whole day on digital tachos,which was good,as i have not used my digi card yet,told how to do a manual entry on the digi,while you are away from the truck,found that useful,but only five minutes on ferry crossings,as ran out of time on that subject.
AlexWignall:
skids:
I had somebody from RTITB assessing the instructor on the DCPC course I did.Do you think that was because the training school was RTITB affilliated?
I’d say that’s exactly why the instruction was assessed, DCPC training courses are approved by the “Joint Approvals Unit for Periodic Training” (JAUPT) who as far as I’m aware never assess the instruction before or after giving approval.
If you do a course with an instructor who’s affiliated to another training body it’s quite possible that the instruction will be assessed by another body such as RTITB, but neither the instruction nor the course content will be assessed by JAUPT which leaves a lot of DCPC instructors to spread as much misinformation as they seem to.
That’s not to say that all DCPC instructors are bad, from some of the posts on these forums it’s clear that there is some good training out there, but unfortunately it’s obvious that there is a lot of very bad training and misinformation being spread by instructors who clearly have not studied there subject well enough and yet have still gained approval from JAUPT.
Good info from tachograph,you know your stuff,in the vosa booklet about hours,it does not say it is a legal requirement to have the tacho mode switch in the correct mode to carry out a 15 minute daily safety check on the vehicle,if you were in the same truck all week,or for weeks away,is there an unwritten rule to allow a shorter safety check?
Some drivers have been fined for not carrying out a 15 minute check,some driver would let the engine idle for 15 mins while sat in the canteen having a cup of tea,then drive off after 15 mins.
toby1234abc:
Some drivers have been fined for not carrying out a 15 minute check,some driver would let the engine idle for 15 mins while sat in the canteen having a cup of tea,then drive off after 15 mins.
Where did you get the information about fines Toby?
Some drivers on my dcpc course got fined,i know the Gendarmes had a purge on this a while back,tacho in,and go.