No, I’m not an idiot. Care to elucidate as to why you think I may be?
Why would you want to go back to chepstow, if your truck was back at the yard? 
The answer to this question, as far as I’m concerned is, if you’re out of time and the firm wants the truck back at the yard, or anywhere else, they should allow you to use whatever vehicle the new driver turned up in to go home.
Going back to the yard would be considered as other work, going home wouldn’t, anymore than going home would if you had ended up in the yard in the first place.
As for the next day, you’d arrive at the yard as normal in your own time. If the firm has dumped the truck you are expected to drive a hundred miles away, you travel there in their time, making a manual entry on your digi or back of the tacho when you get there.
The Sarge:
No, I’m not an idiot. Care to elucidate as to why you think I may be?
berewic:
Why would you want to go back to chepstow, if your truck was back at the yard?
How about, to avoid getting nicked for none compliance of article 9 (EC) 561/2006 and to avoid the company getting done for the same offence.
berewic:
The answer to this question, as far as I’m concerned is, if you’re out of time and the firm wants the truck back at the yard, or anywhere else, they should allow you to use whatever vehicle the new driver turned up in to go home.
Going back to the yard would be considered as other work, going home wouldn’t, anymore than going home would if you had ended up in the yard in the first place.As for the next day, you’d arrive at the yard as normal in your own time. If the firm has dumped the truck you are expected to drive a hundred miles away, you travel there in their time, making a manual entry on your digi or back of the tacho when you get there.
The fact is that travelling home in a company vehicle or any vehicle if it’s on the instructions of the employer is other work so cannot be done legally if you’re out of hours.
If the article bellow doesn’t convince you, Google Case C-297/99 and you’ll find this has been tried in court in the Skills Motor Coaches Ltd case in 1999.
Article 9 - (EC) 561/2006
- Any time spent by a driver driving a vehicle which falls
outside the scope of this Regulation to or from a vehicle
which falls within the scope of this Regulation, which is not at
the driver’s home or at the employer’s operational centre
where the driver is normally based, shall count as other work.
Well the EU does live in its own world. Trust them to come up with a regulation making it unlawful to drive home in your own time.
berewic:
Well the EU does live in its own world. Trust them to come up with a regulation making it unlawful to drive home in your own time.
But the point is that if you’re acting on the instructions of the employer it’s not seen as your own time 
If you park up and get a bus/train/taxi home in your own time then start the next shift from the same place that you finished the previous shift, it can be seen as freely disposing of your time which means you were truly on rest.
But yes, in many ways the EU does seem to be in a world of it’s own
The point is your claiming, or interpreting the rules as the EU doesn’t allow employers access to their own vehicles once a drivers time has expired.
A company providing a vehicle for a drivers personal use after his hours are up, doesn’t automatically follow the driver is acting under employer instructions.
If Vosa, or anyone else nicked a driver under such circumstances, they would most certainly be worthy of the ■■■■ tag.
Surely if we follow your interpretation of Article 9 - (EC) 561/2006, any driver parking up for the night is acting illegally as they are sleeping in the cab at the employers instruction, reinforced by the fact they are paid night out money to do so.
The same follows if the driver goes into digs, as his night out money is provided for his “expenses”.
berewic:
The point is your claiming, or interpreting the rules as the EU doesn’t allow employers access to their own vehicles once a drivers time has expired.
There’s no law to stop the employer having the vehicle just like there’s no law that says a driver can’t go into a B&B, what the regulations do say is that the driver can’t be recovered if he’s out of hours because the travelling time is counted as other work.
berewic:
Surely if we follow your interpretation of Article 9 - (EC) 561/2006, any driver parking up for the night is acting illegally as they are sleeping in the cab at the employers instruction, reinforced by the fact they are paid night out money to do so.
The same follows if the driver goes into digs, as his night out money is provided for his “expenses”.
But when the driver is on a night out they are free to do as they like which is the criteria for rest, if the driver is travelling home or back to base on the instruction of the employer they’re not freely disposing of their time and therefore not on rest.
berewic:
Surely if we follow your interpretation of Article 9 - (EC) 561/2006
it’s not anyone’s “interpretation”, said article specifically states that any time spent travelling to or from a vehicle that is not at the driver’s home or the vehicle’s operating centre is other work. There are many examples where this is ridiculous, but it is there for a reason it and that is because many operators in the past have flouted the spirit of the rules by getting drivers to drive from their home for several hours to pick up a vehicle and then putting a fresh card in and starting a 15h shift (or longer in the case of double manning). The Skills Coaches case tachograph mentioned above is the most commonly cited example of this which confirmed the law as stated above.
Now of course in practice most of us, me included, would still go home given the option. If you do it as a one off after running out of time the likelihood of being done for it is minimal. The law is essentially there to stop people driving long distances to or from vehicles on a frequent planned basis (as was being done by Skills Coaches).
Paul