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HOLIDAY BLUES
Page 9
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Barry Proctor has been getting his operation ready for the strictures of the Working Time Directive. But there's a problem with the arithmetic
Were only f ive short weeks away from the advent of the Working Time Directive but we began operating by its rules at the end of December. The idea was to begin our 26-week average working time cycle when we were quietest, allowing us to gauge our drivers' averages before our peak period starts.
And on the surface, things seem OK. Drivers are within their time, with averages of 42 and 43 hours. What is pushing up the figures is holidays, and this has really hacked me off.
Under the new regulations, taking Monday to Friday off as holiday-five days-has to be calculated as 48 hours, not 40. One of our guys took three days off one week and three days off the next. That's calculated as 48 hours: six days multiplied by eight hours. Fair enough. But it makes no sense to equate the hours worked in five days with the hours worked in six. For every week's holiday we are obliged to add 48 hours to the driver's cumulative total, in our case raising working averages substantially overtime.
We should be banging on the same door the unions are currently thumping on over the VVTD, demanding holiday time is reduced to 40 hours a week and sickness can be calculated to reduce hours.
It's boosting my averages and at some stage I will have to give the drivers time off or make sure they only take holidays from midweek to midweek, which is impracticable. Many companies have not yet implemented this regime, so perhaps they haven't yet realised the difference it makes.
It's a nonsense that with five weeks to go major issues are still unclear. Our only silver lining is the 'periods of availability' question. This is working in our favour, unless the unions get their way, in which case we will have serious problems.
"Drivers are within their with averages of 42 and hours. What's pushing u figures is holidays"
Barry Proctor owns Barry Proctor Services, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.