Hi Guys,
Hopefully posted this in the correct part of the forum, ive come back to driving after quite a few years off.
OK please correct me if i am wrong…
WTD breaks, for upto 6 hours according to what I have done in my CPC and the info I have from elsewhere we are required to take 15mins break before we hit the 6 hour at work point (not including POA but inc. Driving time).
That 15 minute break will then reset the continuous 6 hr working clock.
Between 6 and 9 hours we must show breaks of 30 minutes, which means a 2nd 15minute break inside of 9 hours.
Over 9 hours we must then show 45mins worth of break time inside that spreadover.
WTD breaks must be 15mins minimum, however we may also use our driver break time towards oir WTD break time but obviously how we split our driver breaks have differing criteria to WTD breaks.
So technically our 45mins of driver breaks should cover us for a working day.
I would add that the 30 minutes total only has to be taken before nine hours work if you finish before 9 hours total work, if you see what I mean.
So if you are beyond 6 hours total work (and below 9 hours total work) and have taken a 15, you aren’t allowed to finish your shift until you have taken a 15 and then returned to work for at least a minute. You would think that finishing would be equivalent to having a break, but no no, that isn’t the way.
Peculiarly you could in fact carry on working for (potentially) hours before taking the required break, but there you go, it isn’t really a logical set of rules.
Also, I think technically it isn’t spreadover, it is total working time excluding breaks that we are talking about regards the above. I think spreadover comes into the GB domestic rules somewhere and more mature drivers seem to mention it so perhaps this was more part of the old rules that have been superseded. I would define spreadover as the total time between starting and finishing, which is distinct from accumulated work.
13 hour shift legal example
work 3.5 hours
drive 2.5 hours
break 15 mins = complies with WTD 6 hour rule + first of the split driving time break
work 4 hours
drive 2 hours
break 30 mins = all WTD compliances done + driving time reset
drive 15 mins