Weekly Rest Problem

steviebilbo · 22 March 2011 11:07

Hi All, I am fairly new to the site and this is only my second post. I have driven for quite a few years but mainly just part time when I was on leave from the Armed Services. The hours I worked then never came close to me needing to sort out rest etc. on a regular basis so despite having read them them I don’t fully understand how to interpret the rules regarding weekly rest etc.

Being an agency driver, I don’t work a regular shift pattern. Some weeks I am all days and others all nights and some a mix of both and some I don’t even work at all! I am complying with the daily rest requirements but when it comes to sorting out the weekly rest I am at something of a loss.

Questions I have are such as :

If I have a two or three day period mid week without work how does that affect my weekly rest?

As I started on a Saturday then does every weekly rest period then start on a Saturday?

I have enlcosed a history of my work pattern for the last few weeks and I now reckon that my last rest of 41 hours was 4 hours too short… what do you guys think?

The Wed 23rd 1700 start time is my anticipation of when I can start my next shift thereby giving me a rest of 54 hours, this is to make up for the 9 hours or so I was short on the 13th - is that correct?

The other way to look at it is that having had almost a week off, then the whole system COULD start again on 4th March■■?

Column 3 is start time, 4 is end time (some are next day for night shifts) and column 5 is no of hours rest PRIOR to next start time.

19/02/2011 Sat 09:00 19:00 16:00
20/02/2011 Sun 11:00 19:00 16:00
21/02/2011 Mon 11:00 18:30 33:30
22/02/2011 Tue
23/02/2011 Wed 04:00 18:45 09:00
24/02/2011 Thu 03:45 18:00 12:00
25/02/2011 Fri 06:00 20:00 155:00
26/02/2011 Sat
27/02/2011 Sun
28/02/2011 Mon
01/03/2011 Tue
02/03/2011 Wed
03/03/2011 Thu
04/03/2011 Fri 07:00 22:00 10:00
05/03/2011 Sat 08:00 19:15 74:45
06/03/2011 Sun
07/03/2011 Mon
08/03/2011 Tue 22:00 11:15 10:45
09/03/2011 Wed 22:00 08:15 26:45
10/03/2011 Thu
11/03/2011 Fri 11:00 19:15 26:45
12/03/2011 Sat 22:00 10:30 11:00
13/03/2011 Sun 21:30 09:00 36:30
14/03/2011 Mon
15/03/2011 Tue 21:30 00:00 21:30
16/03/2011 Wed 21:30 06:00 15:30
17/03/2011 Thu 21:30 06:30 15:00
18/03/2011 Fri 21:30 06:00 41:00
19/03/2011 Sat
20/03/2011 Sun 23:00 10:45 54:15
21/03/2011 Mon
22/03/2011 Tue
23/03/2011 Wed 17:00

I tried to post this in spaced columns and it did not work so good but hopefully you can see what I am trying to represent.

Is there a helpful aide memoire which explains all this - in particular something to cover the breaks in working patterns? I have got plenty of references for normal working patterns but they all seem to suggest 6 consecutive periods of work and don’t explain what happens if you have a non working period of a few days in the middle of a week. I AM NOT undertaking any other work during this time by the way.

Thanks for any help you can offer

Steve B

coffeeholic · 22 March 2011 11:46

steviebilbo:
Hi All, I am fairly new to the site and this is only my second post. I have driven for quite a few years but mainly just part time when I was on leave from the Armed Services. The hours I worked then never came close to me needing to sort out rest etc. on a regular basis so despite having read them them I don’t fully understand how to interpret the rules regarding weekly rest etc.

Being an agency driver, I don’t work a regular shift pattern. Some weeks I am all days and others all nights and some a mix of both and some I don’t even work at all! I am complying with the daily rest requirements but when it comes to sorting out the weekly rest I am at something of a loss.

Questions I have are such as :

If I have a two or three day period mid week without work how does that affect my weekly rest?

That is a weekly rest period and when you resume work you have 144 hours until you must begin your next weekly rest period. That is a maximum of 144 hours so if you take a weekly rest sooner than that you start another 144 hour period.

steviebilbo:
As I started on a Saturday then does every weekly rest period then start on a Saturday?

No, a weekly rest can be any time. You could have Saturday and Sunday off as a weekly rest period, work Monday, have Tuesday off which is another weekly rest, work Wednesday and have Thursday off, another weekly rest period and, so on.

steviebilbo:
I have enlcosed a history of my work pattern for the last few weeks and I now reckon that my last rest of 41 hours was 4 hours too short… what do you guys think?

No, it was fine. Because you didn’t work from the 28/02 until the 03/03 that will count as full rest period for w/e 06/03. The 74:45 rest you had starting on the 5th can be counted as a full weekly rest period for w/e 13/03 which means the next two rest periods of 26:45 and 36:30 are only there to prevent you going more than 144 hours without a rest period. The 41:00 rest you had beginning on the 18th is a reduced rest for w/e 20/03 and is fine because you had a full rest the previous week.

steviebilbo:
The Wed 23rd 1700 start time is my anticipation of when I can start my next shift thereby giving me a rest of 54 hours, this is to make up for the 9 hours or so I was short on the 13th - is that correct?

No compensation is required for that rest period as it was only there to prevent you exceeding 144 hours between weekly rest periods as you already have a full weekly rest which can count toward that week. The regulations only require one rest period per fixed week so any additional ones do not require compensation.

You could have worked Monday evening and continued to work until latest 23:00 Saturday 26th, 144 hours after you finished your weekly rest at 23:00 on Sunday 20th, when you would need to start a full weekly rest of at least 45 hours. So for instance you could have continued to do each night this week including your Friday night shift and then started a full weekly rest period on Saturday morning.

The only rest which currently requires compensation is the 41 hour one and that will have to be done before the end of w/e 10th April. However, if you don’t go back to work until Wednesday, any time after 11:45, that will be taken care of.

steviebilbo · 22 March 2011 12:08

Thanks Coffee, so if I understand correctly the 144 hours is similar in nature to the daily limit in as much as if I take a break of 45 hours (minimum) then it’s like a (daily) break of 45 mins (minimum) and my 144 weekly limit starts again just like my 4.5 hours does?

Can you recommend any reading material to quote this so I can read it in full etc.

Thanks again for your time buddy!

wheel_nut · 22 March 2011 12:21

steviebilbo:
Hi All, I am fairly new to the site and this is only my second post. I have driven for quite a few years but mainly just part time when I was on leave from the Armed Services. The hours I worked then never came close to me needing to sort out rest etc. on a regular basis so despite having read them them I don’t fully understand how to interpret the rules regarding weekly rest etc.

Being an agency driver, I don’t work a regular shift pattern. Some weeks I am all days and others all nights and some a mix of both and some I don’t even work at all! I am complying with the daily rest requirements but when it comes to sorting out the weekly rest I am at something of a loss.

Questions I have are such as :

If I have a two or three day period mid week without work how does that affect my weekly rest?

As I started on a Saturday then does every weekly rest period then start on a Saturday?

I have enlcosed a history of my work pattern for the last few weeks and I now reckon that my last rest of 41 hours was 4 hours too short… what do you guys think?

The Wed 23rd 1700 start time is my anticipation of when I can start my next shift thereby giving me a rest of 54 hours, this is to make up for the 9 hours or so I was short on the 13th - is that correct?

The other way to look at it is that having had almost a week off, then the whole system COULD start again on 4th March■■?

Column 3 is start time, 4 is end time (some are next day for night shifts) and column 5 is no of hours rest PRIOR to next start time.

19/02/2011 Sat 09:00 19:00 16:00
20/02/2011 Sun 11:00 19:00 16:00
21/02/2011 Mon 11:00 18:30 33:30
22/02/2011 Tue
23/02/2011 Wed 04:00 18:45 09:00
24/02/2011 Thu 03:45 18:00 12:00 - Only 8Â¾ rest period taken within 24 hour period
25/02/2011 Fri 06:00 20:00 155:00
26/02/2011 Sat
27/02/2011 Sun
28/02/2011 Mon
01/03/2011 Tue
02/03/2011 Wed
03/03/2011 Thu
04/03/2011 Fri 07:00 22:00 10:00
05/03/2011 Sat 08:00 19:15 74:45
06/03/2011 Sun
07/03/2011 Mon
08/03/2011 Tue 22:00 11:15 10:45 Reduced Rest
09/03/2011 Wed 22:00 08:15 26:45
10/03/2011 Thu
11/03/2011 Fri 11:00 19:15 26:45
12/03/2011 Sat 22:00 10:30 11:00 Reduced Rest
13/03/2011 Sun 21:30 09:00 36:30
14/03/2011 Mon - Reduced Weekly Rest
15/03/2011 Tue 21:30 00:00 21:30
16/03/2011 Wed 21:30 06:00 15:30
17/03/2011 Thu 21:30 06:30 15:00
18/03/2011 Fri 21:30 06:00 41:00
19/03/2011 Sat
20/03/2011 Sun 23:00 10:45 54:15
21/03/2011 Mon
22/03/2011 Tue
23/03/2011 Wed 17:00

A week means the period of time between 00.00 Monday and 24.00 Sunday

You are probably getting confused by the meaning of a week

A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period.

I tried to post this in spaced columns and it did not work so good but hopefully you can see what I am trying to represent.

Is there a helpful aide memoire which explains all this - in particular something to cover the breaks in working patterns? I have got plenty of references for normal working patterns but they all seem to suggest 6 consecutive periods of work and don’t explain what happens if you have a non working period of a few days in the middle of a week. I AM NOT undertaking any other work during this time by the way.

Thanks for any help you can offer

Steve B

I made a start but had to go out…

coffeeholic · 22 March 2011 12:21

steviebilbo:
Thanks Coffee, so if I understand correctly the 144 hours is similar in nature to the daily limit in as much as if I take a break of 45 hours (minimum) then it’s like a (daily) break of 45 mins (minimum) and my 144 weekly limit starts again just like my 4.5 hours does?

Exactly. In the same way you can do a maximum of 4.5 hours driving between breaks you can do a maximum of 144 hours between weekly rest periods. As with all maximums you can do less and reset the counter.

steviebilbo:
Can you recommend any reading material to quote this so I can read it in full etc.

dft.gov.uk/pgr/freight/road/ … sgoods.pdf

coffeeholic · 22 March 2011 12:27

Wheel Nut:
23/02/2011 Wed 04:00 18:45 09:00
24/02/2011 Thu 03:45 18:00 12:00 - Only 8Â¾ rest period taken within 24 hour period
25/02/2011 Fri 06:00 20:00 155:00

Why?

On Wednesday he worked from 04:00 - 18:45, a shift of 14Â¾ hours and then took 9 hours off. The shift and the rest totalled 23Â¾ hours and the rest was completed within the 24 hour period which commenced at 04:00 Wednesday.

On Thursday he worked from 03:45 until 18:00, a shift of 14Â¼ hours and then took a 12 hour rest period, 9Â¾ hours of which fell into the 24 hour period which commenced at 03:45 Thursday.

rog · 22 March 2011 12:50

I’ll have a go at this …

19/02/2011 Sat 09:00 19:00 16:00
20/02/2011 Sun 11:00 19:00 16:00
21/02/2011 Mon 11:00 18:30 33:30
22/02/2011 Tue WEEKLY REST NOT COUNTED FOR ANY WEEK
23/02/2011 Wed 04:00 18:45 09:00
24/02/2011 Thu 03:45 18:00 12:00
25/02/2011 Fri 06:00 20:00 155:00
26/02/2011 Sat FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 21-27/02/2011
27/02/2011 Sun FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 21-27/02/2011
28/02/2011 Mon
01/03/2011 Tue
02/03/2011 Wed FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 28/02-06/03/2011
03/03/2011 Thu FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 28/02-06/03/2011
04/03/2011 Fri 07:00 22:00 10:00
05/03/2011 Sat 08:00 19:15 74:45
06/03/2011 Sun FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 07-13/03/2011
07/03/2011 Mon FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 07-13/03/2011
08/03/2011 Tue 22:00 11:15 10:45
09/03/2011 Wed 22:00 08:15 26:45
10/03/2011 Thu WEEKLY REST NOT COUNTED FOR ANY WEEK
11/03/2011 Fri 11:00 19:15 26:45
12/03/2011 Sat 22:00 10:30 11:00
13/03/2011 Sun 21:30 09:00 36:30
14/03/2011 Mon WEEKLY REST NOT COUNTED FOR ANY WEEK
15/03/2011 Tue 21:30 00:00 21:30
16/03/2011 Wed 21:30 06:00 15:30
17/03/2011 Thu 21:30 06:30 15:00
18/03/2011 Fri 21:30 06:00 41:00
19/03/2011 Sat REDUCED WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 14-20/03/2011 (4 HOURS TO PAYBACK)
20/03/2011 Sun 23:00 10:45 54:15
21/03/2011 Mon FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 21-27/03/2011
22/03/2011 Tue FULL WEEKLY REST COUNTED FOR THE WEEK 21-27/03/2011 (4 HOURS PAID BACK)
23/03/2011 Wed 17:00

I wonder if I got that correct?

wheel_nut · 22 March 2011 13:58

Coffeeholic:

Wheel Nut:
23/02/2011 Wed 04:00 18:45 09:00
24/02/2011 Thu 03:45 18:00 12:00 - Only 8Â¾ rest period taken within 24 hour period
25/02/2011 Fri 06:00 20:00 155:00

Why?

On Wednesday he worked from 04:00 - 18:45, a shift of 14Â¾ hours and then took 9 hours off. The shift and the rest totalled 23Â¾ hours and the rest was completed within the 24 hour period which commenced at 04:00 Wednesday.

On Thursday he worked from 03:45 until 18:00, a shift of 14Â¼ hours and then took a 12 hour rest period, 9Â¾ hours of which fell into the 24 hour period which commenced at 03:45 Thursday.

Yeah but no but yeah, no but yeah

steviebilbo · 22 March 2011 16:25

Cheers for the replies and the discussion guys… so it looks like I am ok after all then!

BTW Coffee, like the spare time link - excellent stuff there!

Steve B