I’m with Mike C on this - there are two seperate issues
I’ve done plenty of very long days in the past and as long as I’ve had the total rest I needed then I was fine.
Just had to watch out that the number of reduced daily rest days did not exceed the maximum allowed for the regulations.
dustylfc:
its not the length of time working that is a problem, its being expected to reduce your daily rest period after a long shift, but you no how it is you start 0500 on a monday, because of long shifts and taking your proper daily rests by friday your startin at 0900 gettin home past midnight, bit of a double edged sword, ive done many 15hrs its the nature of the beast but i wont put my health or saftey at risk…unless its my choice
Don’t get me wrong i agree with your take on it . And like you most times i refuse to do it. But if crunch comes to crunch, i think the employers will have the final word on it and not the employees. For all the Health and Saftey regs and drivers hours laws we have and drivers saying we are restricted etc etc its still easily possible to work 13 or 14 hours a day, 60 odd hours a week and still not do enough. Some progress we’ve all made !!!
Mike-C:
Marty B7:
reduction in daily/weekly rest is and always will be at drivers discretion .if you need more than 9 hrs off , dont let them bully you into it as they dont have a leg to stand on.
I wouldn’t be so sure. There’s two issues here, one is the amount of hours you are going to have ‘off’ inbetween shifts and the other is how much daily rest you are going to get in.
If you where to refuse to do a run and return to base before 13 hours work and your employer had scheduled you to do a run taking you 14 hours and therby actually reducing your rest period by one hour the i’d think you wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if you didnt carry out the request. Infact i personally know several Wincanton drivers who have had written warnings for failing to carry out a reasonable management request and that was to work over 13 hours per day.
As for time off inbetween shifts i think you’ll find that planning your daily work pattern is the responability of your employer. Now i know everyone is going to say…tired,saftey, etc… but if you arn’t able to do your job and others can then the issue will be levelled at you. Either way i wouldn’t describe it as the employers don’t have a leg to stand on, quite the other way round really.
if that was to happen in our place there would be 70 drivers outside the gate standing at a fire till it was resolved. By the way , we were under Wincanton and TUPED to another 3rd party a few years back.
if you arrive at the office and they TELL you to come back in 9hrs , it is up to the driver if he feels up to it… end off !
they can threaten all they want , but as soon as you mention the word FATIGUE …trust me they would not have a leg to stand on in any court in the land .
and any drivers who let their greedy paymasters away with this , well i despair.
its a phrase i use every day and never a truer word is spoken.
LORRY DRIVERS ARE THEIR OWN WORST ENEMIES.
while i do agree with Marty, i do have the advantage of being agency so i have a little more leeway than full time drivers. they can put me on another job however, i think we should be looking at this as a matter of principle more than legal perspective although both can be included in the debate. if a driver is knackered and is asked to return to work in 9 hours (we are not talking nights out here), that driver has a responsibility to ensure he/she is fit to drive when they begin their shift. the phrase ‘duty of care’ to the public does spring to mind and is not exclusive to professionals. ALL drivers have a duty of care to the public no matter what they are driving. refusing to reduce a daily rest for that reason would probably go in the drivers favour as the minimum daily rest is 11 hours, not 9. a reduction is 9, not the standard daily rest!
Marty B7:
if that was to happen in our place there would be 70 drivers outside the gate standing at a fire till it was resolved. By the way , we were under Wincanton and TUPED to another 3rd party a few years back.
I’m sure you’re right mate. Last dispute i remember up your way was the Tesco one where all the Tesco drivers done a picket thing. How did they get on?
