Q I own a 20-ton tipper and carry from local quarries
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on Contract A licence, keeping the vehicle at home each night The nearest quarry is 10 minutes' journey from the house, the farthest is one hour. Under the new regulations will the time spent driving to worker the quarry be counted as driving time or will my day's driving start when I commence my journey with a load of tarmacadam, probably an hour later than when I first drove the lorry? Also, at the end of the day will I still be able to drive home after tipping my load at the required destinations?
In short, does my day's driving start when I leave the quarry with my first load, and end when I have tipped my last load (perhaps 30 miles away) ?Can I drive home for pleasure if my 10 hours' driving is complete and when does my rest period start? The vehicle is always driven home empty.
AThe regulations are quite clear on the points you raise, and in no way can you possibly count the time driving from home to the quarry and from the last delivery back home in the evening as off-duty or pleasure time.
Your hours of work must start from the time you leave home in the morning until you return home in the evening.
Driving to and from the quarry in your case as an owner driver is classified as work in connection with your business. The same paragraph as was quoted in Q & A on February 6 applies to you. i.e. Transport Act 1968 Section 103 4 (b). QI refer to CM's Guide to Drivers'
Hours and Record-Keeping, February 27, page 40, under the heading Exemptions and Concessions, paragraphs one and two.
You quote the case of a driver who has not driven for more than four hours on the first three days of the week but has perhaps been on duty for as much as 14 hours on one or more of those days, and who then drives a motor vehicle for more than four hours on the fourth day of the week. It is stated that this method of operating breaks the law, and I would be obliged if you would explain why.
A Section 96 (7) of the Transport Act 1968 makes it clear that the limitations on hours of duty and rest do not apply to a driver of a goods vehicle covered by the new hours rules in any week in which on each day of the week he has driven not more than four hours.
In the example quoted, if the driver drives for more than four hours on the fourth day of the week he is not entitled to any of the concessions set out above, which only apply when he drives for not more than four hours on each (i.e. every) day of that working week.
Therefore, in having been on duty for 14 or more hours on an early day in the week he has worked longer than the permitted hours of
duty. This did not constitute an offence on'the day that the 14 hours were worked but if he subsequently drives more than four hours on any day of that week and thus voids the concession of 96 l7), the 14-hour day is turned retrospectively into an offence. To avoid this happening, the driver must not exceed four hours driving on the latter days of the week.
Qam a furniture driver and packer on household removals and with the new
10-hour regulations I am sure that I and many other drivers in my line of work are very unsure about what we can best do for the family we happen to be moving. Are there are exemptions for us? 1 have made a list of just five examples, but could make it much longer; 1) Customer cannot get into the house as the other people have not moved out and we have to wait.
2) The money or keys have not been handed over.
3) Waiting for electricity and gas to be cut off for cookers to be removed.
4) Being held up in the event of bad weather, traffic jam or breakdown.
5) If the person is left without his furniture, beds, food and cooker, how does he go on; are we supposed to foot the bill for the family in an hotel?
AWe do appreciate your problems but
unfortunately there is no way in which you can claim exemption from the new drivers' hours regulations to enable you to work in excess of these hours, except that in the case of (4) there are circumstances which might be successfully pleaded as unforeseeable in offering defence to a prosecution.
The only way round the problem is to try to plan work wherever possible so that the situation does not arise, or alternatively customers should be told of the problems of the reduced drivers' hours and requested to try to make their arrangements so that as few delays as possible occur at the collection and delivery ends.
aAs industrial engineers we have a mixed fleet of vehicles, consisting of one 5-ton truck and a variety of lighter vehicles under 30cwt unladen weight.
The light service vans are used by engineers in the course of their duty, calling and servicing equipment, and this may result in very few actual driving hours in a day, the greater part of their time being involved with the servicing or repair of equipment installed in users' premises. While, as we understand it, they are allowed a maximum of 10 driving hours. it seems that only the driving hours need to be recorded and for simplicity we propose using record sheets similar to those illustrated on page 43 of your recent article (CM February 27) as used by the Express Dairy Co Ltd. Is this in order? If a driver finishes his day's duty and is allowed to use the van purely as transport between our works and his home, is this outside the requirement of recorded hours?
Where a heavier non-exempt vehicle is used, this is also driven by an engineer who will work on the equipment delivered by his vehicle at the end of the journey; are we right in thinking that he must then adhere to all statutory breaks as if a full-time driver with the maximum 124-hour working period including on-duty time?
ASo far as your light vans are concerned
the only hours regulation which applies in this case is the 10 hours maximum daily driving limit. On-duty, off-duty, spreadover periods, rest periods and statutory breaks are not specified for this class of vehicle on this type of work, so there is no limit beyond the time spent at the wheel: also there is no weekly maximum hours limit of on-duty time, but obviously the maximum driving time in a week of seven days is 70 hours. Records are not required at all for this class of vehicle.
The use by a driver of a light van to travel to and from his home is in order provid2d the driving is outside the scope of his employment: in other words if he is free to do as he wishes and is in no way under your instructions as his employer. This travelling does not have to be recorded.
The driver of the non-exempt vehicle is required to comply in full with the maximum on-duty hours and to take the statutory breaks at the required intervals and to have the specified rest periods. There is, however, an exemption from this if the driver does not actually drive for more than four hours on each working day of the working week, in which case he becomes exempt from the daily duty limit, the statutory breaks, the daily interval of rest and the weekly duty limit. Also, in this circumstance no records are required, so long as he does not travel beyond 25 miles from his base. .
0. I am employed by a C-licence firm on
night trunk covering a distance of 150 miles from paint to point. Up till now! have been working on the principle of nine hours off at the away depot provided that I have 12 hours off in the next 24 hours. As my job can be done easily in 51 hours either way, I always have more than 24 hours off at the home depot.
I feel it is going to be a little harsh to have to take 11 hours off at the away depot when I only work 54 hours on either side of it.
The reason the trunk has not been done on there-and-back basis is that a shunter has to load the vehicle for the return journey.
AIt may seem harsh that you have to take a rest period of 11 hours at a base away from your home, but.unfortunately there is no legal way round the problem because working days must be separated by an interval of rest of at least 11 hours. Any solution must be looked for in the loading arrangements, to enable a there-and-back system to be worked within 10 hours driving time.