If a driver were to unintenially have 2 consecutive reduced rest breaks without realising their error would the Tacho unit in he cab warn that your card was being inserted too early ?
I know the Tachomaster software will register an infringement if you don’t compensate for your reduced rest (sadly just had one) but will it pick up on a double reduced rest ?
I ask the question because I’ve very recently moved firms and put on a cyclic shift pattern (2 weeks days 2 weeks nights) which I truly believe breaks EU rest periods. I’ve queried management and all I got was smiles and “there’s never been a problem before”. I can’t seem to get them to investigate the issue. Problem went away this week because of easter Fri and no need to do run but it will soon come round again.
The guy I work opposite hasn’t had any recent infringements so I’m confused.
The shift is a 4 weekly pattern 2 weeks days 2 weeks nights switching to nights 2nd Fri of day shift.
Mon to Fri 0700 to 1700
62hrs rest
Mon to Thu 0700 to 1700
Fri 1800 to 0400
38hrs rest (reduced rest 7hrs to pay back)
Sun to Fri (6 nights) 1800-0400
38hrs rest (reduced rest 7hrs to pay back)
Sun to Thu (5 nights) 1800-0400
75hrs rest
Start Mon 0700
Am I missing something obvious ? I know you can have consecutive reduced rest when they’re within a fixed week but not when they are your end of working week rest periods.
I wonder if this has happened … if every weekly rest includes sunday midnight …
At least 4 days off in a row (perhaps a weeks holls - that would be regular for week ending AND regular for week starting
That puts the weekly rests at the START of each week
A few weeks go by with the driver doing reduced one week and regular the next etc and then at some point the driver does two reduced in a row
As the second reduced is used for no week then that is ok because the next is a regular at the END of the week
Mon to Fri 0700 to 1700 = WEEK 1
62hrs OFF
Mon to Thu 0700 to 1700 = WEEK 2
25 hours OFF
Fri 1800 to sat 0400 = STILL WEEK 2
38hrs OFF (reduced rest 7hrs to pay back)
Sun to Fri (6 nights) 1800-0400 = WEEK 3
38hrs OFF (reduced rest 7hrs to pay back)
Sun to Thu (5 nights) 1800-0400 = WEEKS 4
75hrs OFF
BACK TO START
I think I have this 4 weekly recurring pattern… WEEK 1 reduced using the last 30 hours of the 75 off at the end of WEEK 4 (15 to payback) WEEK 2 regular using the last 45 hours of the 62 off at the end of WEEK 1 WEEK 3 reduced using the 38 off at the end of WEEK 3 (7 to payback) WEEK 4 regular using the first 45 hours of the 75 at the end of WEEK 4 That leaves the extra 17 of the 62 off as well as the 25 off in WEEK 2 and the 38 off at the end of WEEK 2 to be used for paybacks
Week 2 has a reduced rest AND week 3 has a reduced rest. Does that not flaunt the bsic rule of only being allowed to reduce rest every other week ?
“an unbroken rest period of 45 hours every week - you can reduce this to 24 hours every other week”
Week 2 has a regular weekly rest period attatched to it on the Saturday/Sunday and Monday before 07:00. (A weekly rest period that crosses 2 weeks (Sunday midnight) can be used for either week but not both)
If you look down the right hand column of the chart I’ve posted it shows which week the weekly rest periods are being counted for.
The 38 hour reduced weekly rest period on Saturday of week 2 is used just to reset the six periods of 24 hours so you can do the next 6 shifts.
Not that it makes any difference but I’ve just noticed that there’s actually another 24 hour rest period from 17:00 Thursday to 18:00 Friday in week 2.
You can have more than 1 weekly rest period in a week, the important thing is that you can count a regular weekly rest period for every second week, apart from that you can have as many reduced weekly rest period as you like
As ROG said it’s a 4 week rota, I’ve worked it out over 16 weeks because sometimes a short rota can fail over time, this one doesn’t
As far as I know reduced weekly rests have to be payed back in blocks of 2 weeks period but in reality it means that you need to make up your rest hours by the end of your third week in a row.
I tried it many times and it worked.
One of our fellow driver here suggested that you should consider your rest days if they involve Sunday-Monday, as it breaks your rest into two separate week.
Also , vehicle tachographs do not warn you unless your exceeding the 4.5 hour driving time.
Hence you have to watch everything else… weekly / daily driving and working hours as well as rests and also the two week’s figures.
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Each separate reduced weekly rest has to be paid back in full before sunday midnight of week 4 if the reduced was done in week 1
Payback can be ‘bounced’
Example -
week 1 = reduced to 30 leaves 15 to payback
week 2 = 45 off
week 3 = 50 off which can be 35 reduced + 15 paid back leaving a new 10 to be paid back
week 4 = 45 off
week 5 = 50 off which can be 40 reduced + 10 paid back leaving a new 5 to pay back
week 6 = 45 off
week 7 = 50 off which can be 45 + 5 paid back
No payback owing at this point
