SHORT WEEKEND DRIVING DILEMMA
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Qdrive a Class 3 truck for a large builders merchants who say I do not need to have a 45-hour weekly rest after finishing work at 12.30pm on a Saturday.
I only drive about 15 hours a week with the remainder of the 44-hour week taken up by loading and unloading.
What are your views on this?
A The weekly rest period
can be less than 45 hours, but the difference has to be made up later.
Though truck driving does not form the major part of your work it is nevertheless controlled by the EC hours law in EC Regulation 3820/85. This requires that during each week a daily rest period be extended into a weekly rest period of 45 hours, but if the rest period is taken at the vehicle's or driver's base it can be reduced to 36 hours. If it is taken elsewhere it can be reduced to 24 hours.
However, a reduction in the weekly rest period must be compensated for by an equivalent amount of time off being taken in one stretch before the end of the third week following the week involved.
The time off must also be attached to a rest period which is itself at least eight hours long.