Stu190:
Adam_Mc:
Do you think that maybe we’ve stumbled upon something? one thing is saying no you can’t, and another thing is saying yes you can lol
Was beginning to wonder that meself… Although i think ill stick to not doing two reduced back to back to be safe 
Well to be honest that’s what I’d suggest. Until I read the rules just now I’s have agreed with tachograph 100%…but since reading it…he’s found something written in black and white, and so have I…one says you can and one says you can’t…and the problems boils down to fixed week I think.
Adam_Mc:
tachograph:
Adam_Mc:
tell a lie…you can take 2 reduced weekly rests consecutively…ie you can do 45, 24, 24, 45.
You can only do that if two of those weekly rest period are to count for the same week.
You can have two or more weekly rest periods or reduced weekly rest periods in the same week but you cannot legally have a regular weekly rest in week 1, a reduced weekly rest in week 2, a reduced weekly rest in week 3 and a regular weekly rest in week 4.
It’s illegal 
Well originally i thought it was illegal too but then i found the diagram and realised that the 2 reduced rests were in the same week…but if you actually read the text above the diagram properly it says that you can do it :S
"The following tables are examples of how a driver’s duties might be organised in compliance with
the rules on weekly rest, which allow two reduced weekly rest periods to be taken consecutively.
This complies with the rules because at least one regular and one reduced weekly rest period have
been taken in two consecutive ‘fixed’ weeks."
Yes you can have two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods, but two of the those you’re referring to on page 19 are in the same week, even if the second reduced weekly rest was in week 3 it would still be legal because of the regular 45 hour weekly rest taken at the end of week 3 and counting for week 3.
Adam_Mc:
Do you think that maybe we’ve stumbled upon something?
No but you’re not the first person to misunderstand the diagram on page 19
tachograph:
Adam_Mc:
tachograph:
Adam_Mc:
tell a lie…you can take 2 reduced weekly rests consecutively…ie you can do 45, 24, 24, 45.
You can only do that if two of those weekly rest period are to count for the same week.
You can have two or more weekly rest periods or reduced weekly rest periods in the same week but you cannot legally have a regular weekly rest in week 1, a reduced weekly rest in week 2, a reduced weekly rest in week 3 and a regular weekly rest in week 4.
It’s illegal
Well originally i thought it was illegal too but then i found the diagram and realised that the 2 reduced rests were in the same week…but if you actually read the text above the diagram properly it says that you can do it :S
"The following tables are examples of how a driver’s duties might be organised in compliance with
the rules on weekly rest, which allow two reduced weekly rest periods to be taken consecutively.
This complies with the rules because at least one regular and one reduced weekly rest period have
been taken in two consecutive ‘fixed’ weeks."
Yes you can have two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods, but two of the those you’re referring to on page 19 are in the same week, even if the second reduced weekly rest was in week 3 it would still be legal because of the regular 45 hour weekly rest taken at the end of week 3 and counting for week 3.
Adam_Mc:
Do you think that maybe we’ve stumbled upon something?
No but you’re not the first person to misunderstand the diagram on page 19
So in other words I had it right the first time, and page 19 just has a ■■■■ way of explaining it 
Adam_Mc:
tachograph:
In other words you must have a regular weekly rest period at least every other week.
Not true…as I’ve just found out lol
Adam_Mc:
So in other words I had it right the first time, and page 19 just has a [zb] way of explaining it
Not quite, you did say that I was wrong when I said that you must have a regular weekly rest every other week, which is in fact the case
tachograph:
Adam_Mc:
tachograph:
In other words you must have a regular weekly rest period at least every other week.
Not true…as I’ve just found out lol
Adam_Mc:
So in other words I had it right the first time, and page 19 just has a [zb] way of explaining it
Not quite, you did say that I was wrong when I said that you must have a regular weekly rest every other week, which is in fact the case
Read my first post on the thread, not my first post to you
Adam_Mc:
Read my first post on the thread, not my first post to you
Yes, the same rule book that’s been quoted confussling people 
Thank [zb] it’s friday!
Thanks for the help though people much appreciated
If the auto censor catches a word, re-spelling or doctoring that word to dodge the auto censor does not make the word become allowable. dd.
Stu190:
Adam_Mc:
Do you think that maybe we’ve stumbled upon something? one thing is saying no you can’t, and another thing is saying yes you can lol
Was beginning to wonder that meself… Although i think ill stick to not doing two reduced back to back to be safe
Just to clarify, you can have back to back reduced weekly rest periods if they are either in the same week or one of them is in the same week as a regular weekly rest period.
Either way legally you must have at least one regular weekly rest period every other week
Adam_Mc:
Read my first post on the thread, not my first post to you
Fair enough I see what you mean now
tachograph:
Stu190:
Adam_Mc:
Do you think that maybe we’ve stumbled upon something? one thing is saying no you can’t, and another thing is saying yes you can lol
Was beginning to wonder that meself… Although i think ill stick to not doing two reduced back to back to be safe
Just to clarify, you can have back to back reduced weekly rest periods if they are either in the same week or one of them is in the same week as a regular weekly rest period.
Either way legally you must have at least one regular weekly rest period every other week
Adam_Mc:
Read my first post on the thread, not my first post to you
Fair enough I see what you mean now
You know what, I’m still not done with this issue…I’ll explain why lol
week 1 it shows 45 hours rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then 45 hours rest…Now as far as I’m concerned, 5 days is my normal working week anyway…the only reason that diagram works is because its pictured in a fixed week context…now lets say I do the exact same working pattern ie 5 days a week but on a staggered week, does that then make it suddenly illegal? Can you see what I’m getting at Tacho?
Stu190:
Yes, the same rule book that’s been quoted confussling people
It’s not a rule book, it’s only a guide book. Same as the Highway Code is just a guide book and not actually ‘The Law’.
Incidentally, just to throw a bit more confusion into the mix, you can have more than two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods. Not long ago I had, legally, four reduced weekly rest periods in a row.
Week 1, I had a regular rest period at the start of the week and a reduced later in the week.
Week 2, I had two reduced weekly rest periods within that week.
Week 3, I had a reduced weekly rest period during the week and then commenced a regular weekly rest period on the Sunday.
So it went,
Regular
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Regular
And only one of those reduced weekly rest periods, one of the ones from week 2, required compensating, which was done before the end of week 5.
Coffeeholic:
Stu190:
Yes, the same rule book that’s been quoted confussling people
It’s not a rule book, it’s only a guide book. Same as the Highway Code is just a guide book and not actually ‘The Law’.
Incidentally, just to throw a bit more confusion into the mix, you can have more than two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods. Not long ago I had, legally, four reduced weekly rest periods in a row.
Week 1, I had a regular rest period at the start of the week and a reduced later in the week.
Week 2, I had two reduced weekly rest periods within that week.
Week 3, I had a reduced weekly rest period during the week and then commenced a regular weekly rest period on the Sunday.
So it went,
Regular
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Regular
And only one of those reduced weekly rest periods, one of the ones from week 2, required compensating, which was done before the end of week 5.
Are you sure that two of those ‘reduced’ rest periods aren’t just counted as really long daily rest periods?
Adam_Mc:
Coffeeholic:
Stu190:
Yes, the same rule book that’s been quoted confussling people
It’s not a rule book, it’s only a guide book. Same as the Highway Code is just a guide book and not actually ‘The Law’.
Incidentally, just to throw a bit more confusion into the mix, you can have more than two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods. Not long ago I had, legally, four reduced weekly rest periods in a row.
Week 1, I had a regular rest period at the start of the week and a reduced later in the week.
Week 2, I had two reduced weekly rest periods within that week.
Week 3, I had a reduced weekly rest period during the week and then commenced a regular weekly rest period on the Sunday.
So it went,
Regular
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Reduced
Regular
And only one of those reduced weekly rest periods, one of the ones from week 2, required compensating, which was done before the end of week 5.
Are you sure that two of those ‘reduced’ rest periods aren’t just counted as really long daily rest periods?
No, because once taken they allowed me to commence another 6x24-hour periods (144 hours) before my next weekly rest was due and only weekly rest periods do that. That was the case with the one in week 1, one of the two in week 2 and the one in week 3.
Adam_Mc:
You know what, I’m still not done with this issue…I’ll explain why lol
week 1 it shows 45 hours rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then 45 hours rest…Now as far as I’m concerned, 5 days is my normal working week anyway…the only reason that diagram works is because its pictured in a fixed week context…now lets say I do the exact same working pattern ie 5 days a week but on a staggered week, does that then make it suddenly illegal? Can you see what I’m getting at Tacho?
As far as the regulations are concerned a week is a fixed week from 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday.
I’m not sure what you mean by a “staggered week” but regardless of when your working week starts the fixed week is 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday and the regulations state that you must have a regular weekly rest every other fixed week.
It makes no difference if you start your working week on a Wednesday and finish on a Monday, legally you must have at least oner regular 45 hour weekly rest period that fits into every other fixed week.
tachograph:
Adam_Mc:
You know what, I’m still not done with this issue…I’ll explain why lol
week 1 it shows 45 hours rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then reduced rest, then work 5 days, then 45 hours rest…Now as far as I’m concerned, 5 days is my normal working week anyway…the only reason that diagram works is because its pictured in a fixed week context…now lets say I do the exact same working pattern ie 5 days a week but on a staggered week, does that then make it suddenly illegal? Can you see what I’m getting at Tacho?
As far as the regulations are concerned a week is a fixed week from 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday.
I’m not sure what you mean by a “staggered week” but regardless of when your working week starts the fixed week is 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday and the regulations state that you must have a regular weekly rest every other fixed week.
It makes no difference if you start your working week on a Wednesday and finish on a Monday, legally you must have at least oner regular 45 hour weekly rest period that fits into every other fixed week.
What if my working week is tuesday to saturday…and my rest is on a sunday and a monday?..id never have a full 45 within a fixed week and therefore all my weekly rests would actually be classed as illegal and blah blah blah.
I’m going to conclude that actually, the law is simple…but its wording is ■■■■!
Adam_Mc:
What if my working week is tuesday to saturday…and my rest is on a sunday and a monday?..id never have a full 45 within a fixed week and therefore all my weekly rests would actually be classed as illegal and blah blah blah.
I’m going to conclude that actually, the law is simple…but its wording is [zb]!
The whole rest period does not have to be within the fixed week, it just has to commence before the end of that week for it to count. So, if you commenced a 45-hour rest period at 23:59 on Sunday in week 1 it could count for week 1 even though 44 hours and 59 minutes of it were in week 2. That’s taking it to the extreme but your Sunday Monday rest period will count for the week with the Sunday in it if needs be.
Coffeeholic:
Adam_Mc:
What if my working week is tuesday to saturday…and my rest is on a sunday and a monday?..id never have a full 45 within a fixed week and therefore all my weekly rests would actually be classed as illegal and blah blah blah.
I’m going to conclude that actually, the law is simple…but its wording is [zb]!
The whole rest period does not have to be within the fixed week, it just has to commence before the end of that week for it to count. So, if you started a rest period at 23:59 on Sunday in week 1 it would count for week 1.
I know…I was being sarcastic
tachograph:
Stu190:
Hi all after a quick bit of information please, mainly to refresh the ol brain box tbh… 
Havn’t had to do it that often but how often can you reduce a weekly rest period? I was under the impression if i take a reduction to 36 hours one weekend, i have to pay back the owed hours the following weekend, is this right, or not?
Because reading up on this the rules they say about paying back en bloc at the end of the 3rd week. So if i have this right i can reduce weekend one’s rest period to 36 hours, the following weekend rest period to say 40 hours and by the 3rd weekend i owe 14 hours as well as the 45 needed?
Just we’ve started taking trucks in for service and such on a Saturday, and want to be clear on what the rules are on reduced rest periods.
Many thanks,
Stu
For a start lets say that for the purpose of this post a week is a fixed week from 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday.
(Saves me keep pointing out that I’m referring to a fixed week )
A regular weekly rest period is 45 hours consecutive rest.
A reduced weekly rest period is a rest period of at least 24 consecutive hours rest.
In any two consecutive weeks a driver must have either two regular weekly rest periods or at least one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period.
In other words you must have a regular weekly rest period at least every other week.
You cannot legally go two consecutive weeks without having at least one reduced weekly rest period.
Compensation for a reduced weekly rest period should be paid en-block by the end of the third week following the week in which you had the reduced weekly rest period, the compensation should be paid back by adding it onto any rest period of at least 9 hours.
Lets say you had a reduced weekly rest of 30 hours this week and that was the only weekly rest period you had this week, you would need to have a regular weekly rest period of at least 45 hours next week, compensation of 15 hours would need to be paid back en-block by the end of the third week following this week, in other words by the end of week three starting next Monday.
I doubt you meant to say that!
44 Tonne Ton:
tachograph:
You cannot legally go two consecutive weeks without having at least one reduced weekly rest period.
I doubt you meant to say that!
Thank you, I’ve now edited the post which should read “You cannot legally go two consecutive weeks without having at least one regular weekly rest period”.
You should add a disclaimer… 