The Position Regarding Drivers' Hours
Page 24
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MANY owners and drivers of commercial vehicles find some difficulty in understanding the position in respect of the hours.to be devoted to work and rest respectively. The law itself is rendered a little vague by an omission, and, we believe, intentionally so.
The position is that a driver may not be in charge of his vehicle or engaged on work in connection with the vehicle or its load for more than five and a half hours in one spell, which must be followed by a break of at least half an hour, but this may, if the driver wishes, be taken on the vehicle as a passenger. He may then drive, or do work equivalent to driving, for another five and a half hours; but the driving period must not total more than 11 hours in any period of 24 hours commencing at 2 a.m. He must have at least 10 consecutive hours of rest in any period of 24 hours from the commencement of the period of driving. This rest time may be reduced to nine hours if 12 consecutive hours be allowed during the next 24 hours.
It will be noted, however, that, taking the first case, the 10 hours of rest, plus a half-hour interval and the 11 hours of driving, total 211 hours, and it is not always understood how the remaining two and a half hours may be spent ; this is one of the points upon which the law makes no comment. It appears, therefore, that this time can be considered either as additional rest time between a spread-over period of driving, or it can be utilized for some other work having no connection with the vehicle or its load, although such use of this extra time is not to be encouraged; it is better to regard it as a reserve. Certain concessions in respect of drivers of A and B-licensed vehicles are announced on page 478.
Conciliation Deadlock Dangers
THE state of deadlock in the negotiations concerning the report of the National Conciliation Board has become serious and is unworthy of the road-transport industry, which provides employ-. ment for about 1,000,000 persons and should rank in prestige with any other in the country. Obviously, rapid action must be taken to solve the various problems affecting wages and working conditions, and a useful suggestion has been made. exclusively to The Commercial Motor by Mr. R. W. Sewill, M.A., chairman of the Road Haulage Association.
He proposes that a round-table conference should be held between the employers, who have split into two groups, and the workers, in order to settle in an amicable manner the vital questions at issue. At present there appears to be a strong tendency towards inflexibility in the proposals of the different interests, and more give and-take is clearly necessary. With goodwill on all sides, a conference of a more informal nature than the meetings of the National Board, Area Boards and the Co-ordinating Committee might well prove to be of value in avoiding the possibility of Government intervention.