I’m a bit confused as to the rules of compensating for weekly rest. This is because it’s very rare I have to work 2 weekends in a row. So I worked 6 days and then had a 37 hour rest period followed by another 6 days and a 37.5 hour rest. My understanding is that I need a 45 hour rest this week plus the 15.5 I’ve missed out in in the last two weeks which equals 60.5 hours rest. My question is does this need to be taken in one block or not? I finished at 6 last night and not starting till 2 this afternoon do I didn’t know if this could go towards my compensation? Cheers.
I didn’t think you could take consecutive reduced weekly rests
Weekly Rest Periods: Within six 24 hour periods from the end of the last weekly rest period, a driver will extend a daily rest period into either; a regular weekly rest period of at least 45 hours, or a reduced weekly rest period of less than 45 hours but at least 24 hours.
In any two consecutive weeks, a driver shall take at least two regular weekly rest periods, or one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period of at least 24 hours.
However, the reduction shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest taken en bloc before the end of the third week following the week in question.
Oops. Big misunderstanding then!
xfmatt:
Oops. Big misunderstanding then!
was slightly 
Second weekend rest following a reduced weekend break must be a minimum of 45 hrs. Any compensation must be taken by the end of the third week following the reduction. And must be taken “en bloc”.
xfmatt:
So I worked 6 days and then had a 37 hour rest period followed by another 6 days and a 37.5 hour rest.
Depending on what weekly rests you had either side of this you might just get away with it being legal.
This is because a weekly rest that spans two weeks can be counted for either week, so it might be that the weekly rest the weekend before this could be counted as a full weekly rest for the first week.
But as a general rule, as others have said, you need 45h off every other weekend at least.
Paul
repton:
xfmatt:
So I worked 6 days and then had a 37 hour rest period followed by another 6 days and a 37.5 hour rest.Depending on what weekly rests you had either side of this you might just get away with it being legal.
This is because a weekly rest that spans two weeks can be counted for either week, so it might be that the weekly rest the weekend before this could be counted as a full weekly rest for the first week.
But as a general rule, as others have said, you need 45h off every other weekend at least.
Paul
Cheers for that Paul. I’ve been on the new operators seminar today and learnt this for myself. It is ok if you have had at lease one 45 hour rest in a “fixed week”. For example: 45 hour break followed by 6 days, 37 hour rest followed by another 6 days then a 37.5 hour reduced rest and then another 5 days and then a 45 hour rest plus the 16.5 hours compensation by the end if the third week.
The 45 weekly rest and 37 hour rest is in one “fixed week” and the following 37.5 hour reduced and 45 hour rest is in the next “fixed week”. You just have to be very careful that you compensate for it.
Matt
xfmatt:
repton:
xfmatt:
So I worked 6 days and then had a 37 hour rest period followed by another 6 days and a 37.5 hour rest.Depending on what weekly rests you had either side of this you might just get away with it being legal.
This is because a weekly rest that spans two weeks can be counted for either week, so it might be that the weekly rest the weekend before this could be counted as a full weekly rest for the first week.
But as a general rule, as others have said, you need 45h off every other weekend at least.
Paul
Cheers for that Paul. I’ve been on the new operators seminar today and learnt this for myself. It is ok if you have had at lease one 45 hour rest in a “fixed week”. For example: 45 hour break followed by 6 days, 37 hour rest followed by another 6 days then a 37.5 hour reduced rest and then another 5 days and then a 45 hour rest plus the 16.5 hours compensation by the end if the third week.
The 45 weekly rest and 37 hour rest is in one “fixed week” and the following 37.5 hour reduced and 45 hour rest is in the next “fixed week”. You just have to be very careful that you compensate for it.
Matt
Ahh, see now I’ve learnt something new - and I’ve done my dCPC, but NO, I learn it on here…
Of course, it makes perfect sense now. Well, I say perfect sense… Surely 2 consecutive weeks though isn’t working to the 2 week rule you say.
If week 1 is 45hr rest, week 2 is 37hr rest, week 3 is 37hr rest, week 4 is 45hr rest… BUT, surely week 2 and week 3 are still 2 consecutive weeks?
It says ‘in ANY 2 consecutive weeks’… So, week 2 and week 3 are 2 consecutive weeks, no matter how you swap the weeks around??
Am I missing something, because what you said makes sense, but the writing above sort of disagrees?
Don’t forget though, you can ‘compensate’ for your weekly rest period on the end of any 9hr rest period, as long as it’s en bloc. So if you’ve had (some hope) 15hrs off, that’s you sorted.
The way I understood it is that you can’t take two consecutive reduced rests in a “fixed week”. When a “fixed week” starts and ends is the confusing part.
Matt
repton:
xfmatt:
So I worked 6 days and then had a 37 hour rest period followed by another 6 days and a 37.5 hour rest.Depending on what weekly rests you had either side of this you might just get away with it being legal.
This is because a weekly rest that spans two weeks can be counted for either week, so it might be that the weekly rest the weekend before this could be counted as a full weekly rest for the first week.
But as a general rule, as others have said, you need 45h off every other weekend at least.
Paul
That’s how most of the lads in the quarries work it. 6 days one week, 5 the next (Saturday and Sunday off)
Judging by this post and a few others including one of mine, a lot of people don’t understand the weekly rest rules!. That includes me by the way.
xfmatt:
The way I understood it is that you can’t take two consecutive reduced rests in a “fixed week”. When a “fixed week” starts and ends is the confusing part.Matt
waynedl:
Ahh, see now I’ve learnt something new - and I’ve done my dCPC, but NO, I learn it on here…Of course, it makes perfect sense now. Well, I say perfect sense… Surely 2 consecutive weeks though isn’t working to the 2 week rule you say.
If week 1 is 45hr rest, week 2 is 37hr rest, week 3 is 37hr rest, week 4 is 45hr rest… BUT, surely week 2 and week 3 are still 2 consecutive weeks?
It says ‘in ANY 2 consecutive weeks’… So, week 2 and week 3 are 2 consecutive weeks, no matter how you swap the weeks around??
Am I missing something, because what you said makes sense, but the writing above sort of disagrees?
What repton is saying is that if you have a regular weekly rest period at the start of week 1 that can count for week 1 then have reduced weekly rest periods at the start of weeks 2 and 3 a regular weekly rest period at the end of week 3 can count for week 3 instead of week 4, therefore you would have had a regular weekly rest period in week 1, a reduced weekly rest period in week 2, and both a reduced and a regular weekly rest period that can count for week 3, so it’s legal.
Week 1 = regular weekly rest period
Week 2 = Reduced weekly rest period
Week 3 = reduced weekly rest period + regular weekly rest period (the regular weekly rest period crosses over weeks 3 and 4 (Sunday/Monday) so can be used for either week but not both 
)
But you would have to remember that from that moment on the weekly rest period at the end of the week will be the one that must count for the week, at-least until such a time that you have a weekly rest period of at-least 69 hours.
I’m not sure if that makes the situation clearer but I hope it does 
xfmatt:
The way I understood it is that you can’t take two consecutive reduced rests in a “fixed week”. When a “fixed week” starts and ends is the confusing part.Matt
You can legally have as many consecutive reduced weekly rest periods as you can fit into a week but you must also have a regular 45 hour weekly rest period that can count for every second week.
There’s nothing confusing about when the fixed week starts and ends, it starts at 00:00 Monday and ends at 24:00 Sunday, or if you prefer it runs from midnight Sunday to midnight the following Sunday.
It even says so in the regulations, article 4 - (EC) 561/2006
‘a week’ means the period of time between 00.00 on
Monday and 24.00 on Sunday;
tachograph:
xfmatt:
The way I understood it is that you can’t take two consecutive reduced rests in a “fixed week”. When a “fixed week” starts and ends is the confusing part.Matt
waynedl:
Ahh, see now I’ve learnt something new - and I’ve done my dCPC, but NO, I learn it on here…Of course, it makes perfect sense now. Well, I say perfect sense… Surely 2 consecutive weeks though isn’t working to the 2 week rule you say.
If week 1 is 45hr rest, week 2 is 37hr rest, week 3 is 37hr rest, week 4 is 45hr rest… BUT, surely week 2 and week 3 are still 2 consecutive weeks?
It says ‘in ANY 2 consecutive weeks’… So, week 2 and week 3 are 2 consecutive weeks, no matter how you swap the weeks around??
Am I missing something, because what you said makes sense, but the writing above sort of disagrees?What repton is saying is that if you have a regular weekly rest period at the start of week 1 that can count for week 1 then have reduced weekly rest periods at the start of weeks 2 and 3 a regular weekly rest period at the end of week 3 can count for week 3 instead of week 4, therefore you would have had a regular weekly rest period in week 1, a reduced weekly rest period in week 2, and both a reduced and a regular weekly rest period that can count for week 3, so it’s legal.
Week 1 = regular weekly rest period
Week 2 = Reduced weekly rest period
Week 3 = reduced weekly rest period + regular weekly rest period (the regular weekly rest period crosses over weeks 3 and 4 (Sunday/Monday) so can be used for either week but not bothBut you would have to remember that from that moment on the weekly rest period at the end of the week will be the one that must count for the week, at-least until such a time that you have a weekly rest period of at-least 69 hours.
I’m not sure if that makes the situation clearer but I hope it does
No
I’ll admit to being baffled here, to me 2 consecutive weeks is where 1 week follows another, so week 1 and 2 are 2 consecutive weeks, as are weeks 2 and 3, and weeks 3 and 4 and so on.
So, in ANY 2 consecutive weeks, we must have 2 weekly rests, only 1 of which can be reduced. Correct so far?
So, if week 1 is regular, week 2 is reduced, how can you possibly reduce again on week 3? I understand that if you then did a regular for week 4, you’d be legal for 3 and 4, and 1 and 2, but how could that be legal for 2 and 3 which are 2 consecutive weeks without a regular weekly rest?
Maybe it’s the long shift, but I don’t get it, so I’m offski to bed and sticking to my ‘alternate weeks only’ mentality as it’s easier 
waynedl:
to me 2 consecutive weeks is where 1 week follows another, so week 1 and 2 are 2 consecutive weeks, as are weeks 2 and 3, and weeks 3 and 4 and so on.
Agreed
waynedl:
So, in ANY 2 consecutive weeks, we must have 2 weekly rests, only 1 of which can be reduced. Correct so far?
In any two weeks we must have at-least 2 weekly rest periods and at-least one of them must be a regular weekly rest period.
What’s being discussed is simply manipulating which week the weekly rest period counts for.
In this image it doesn’t matter which of the reduced weekly rest periods you count for week 2 so you would use the one that requires the least compensation.
The second regular weekly rest period crosses weeks 3 and 4 so can be used for either week but not both, in this case it’s being used for week 3 so the reduced weekly rest period is redundant and only used to allow the start of a new six periods of 24 hours
(In the image the regular weekly rest period for week 1 may be the last 45 hours of a rest period that was 90 hours or more i.e. 2 back to back regular weekly rest periods)
I always cover this during drivers hours DCPC courses and to be honest … it’s flamin hard work at times.
Some get it and some don’t. Doesn’t seem to matter how I explain it, draw it, show it - some just can’t get it.
Not the easiest of things to explain.
I think I understand most of the tacho rules, although obviously only a rocket scientist could understand them all. But here’s something I’m not sure about.
If you have a reduced 43 hour rest one weekend, and you compensate for that by adding two hours to a nine hour rest the following Wednesday, can you reduce your rest the following weekend on the grounds that you have already compensated for the previous weekend?
I’m thinking “No” but I’d be interested in any feedback on this.
No Harry. You have to take the second weekend as a 45 minimum regardless of when you compensate.
As for the two consecutive reduced rests, it’s right but try explaining it to a gendarme. Not worth the aggro in my opinion.
shep532:
I always cover this during drivers hours DCPC courses and to be honest … it’s flamin hard work at times.Some get it and some don’t. Doesn’t seem to matter how I explain it, draw it, show it - some just can’t get it.
Not the easiest of things to explain.
Not easy but can be explained if done well with diagrams and stressing the word COUNTED does get great results
Making sure the drivers understand the underpinning knowledge of each rule is paramount because then the final senarios make sense
I have helped so many by Email on this subject as well as publically on many sites and so far have not had one go away without understanding it
tachograph:
waynedl:
to me 2 consecutive weeks is where 1 week follows another, so week 1 and 2 are 2 consecutive weeks, as are weeks 2 and 3, and weeks 3 and 4 and so on.Agreed
waynedl:
So, in ANY 2 consecutive weeks, we must have 2 weekly rests, only 1 of which can be reduced. Correct so far?In any two weeks we must have at-least 2 weekly rest periods and at-least one of them must be a regular weekly rest period.
What’s being discussed is simply manipulating which week the weekly rest period counts for.
In this image it doesn’t matter which of the reduced weekly rest periods you count for week 2 so you would use the one that requires the least compensation.
The second regular weekly rest period crosses weeks 3 and 4 so can be used for either week but not both, in this case it’s being used for week 3 so the reduced weekly rest period is redundant and only used to allow the start of a new six periods of 24 hours
0
■■■■■■’ hell, I get it now… That stinks lol