TachoChart

Q What is my maximum daily driving limit.

R You can drive for a maximum of 9 hrs in a 24hr period, which may be extended up to 10hrs twice in any week. Remember that 9.01 driving is one extended drive.

Q Can this 10 hrs be on consecutive days.

R Yes, provided that you have not driven over 9 hrs on any day previous. You can in fact drive over 9 hrs on 4 consecutive days i.e., Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, providing that you have not driven over 9hrs prior to, or after these days in any of the two weeks.

Q. If I drive for ten hours on Monday, can I drive for nine and a half hours on Tuesday and Wednesday.

R No. You are only allowed to extend your driving over nine hours on two occasions. Being able to drive for an extra hour does not mean that you can split it into two, half hour periods. If you drive for nine hours and one minute you will use up one of these extended driving periods. You do not have to drive up to the maximum of ten hours to use up one of these extensions.

Q I drive over 9hrs on Monday and Wednesday, I then work for the rest of the week, have Saturday off and resume work on Sunday. Can I now drive over 9hrs again.

R No because although you have started another week Sunday is the last day of the official week and because you have already driven over 9 hrs on two previous occasions you cannot drive over 9 hrs again.

Q What is my maximum daily duty, or spreadover.

R There is no such thing as daily duty, just daily rest and daily driving periods. However as a consequence of being able to take 9 hrs daily rest it will mean that you can be on duty for 15 hrs.

Q How long can I drive at any one time.

R You can drive for four and a half hours and then you must take a 45 minute break. This may be replaced by breaks of at least 15 minutes, taken during or immediately after the driving.

Q If I drive for 4 hrs and then go onto a quarry and drive for another half an hour do I need to take a break.

R If the quarry is not open to the public the answer is no. The driving is only on roads open to the public. Any driving on roads or areas not open to the public is termed "off road driving" and is classed as other duty.

Q What is the maximum driving for a week.

R There is no maximum driving limit for a week only for a fortnight. However you can only drive for six driving periods or six days before you must take a weekly rest period. Therefore if you drive for 10 hrs twice during this week and drive for 9 hrs on the remaining days it will mean that the maximum driving for the week will be 56 hrs.

Q What is the fortnightly driving limit.

R In any fortnight you can drive for 90 hrs. You must bear in mind that this is a rolling fortnight and each week is used twice. At the end of the week the fortnightly drive will be that week's driving and the week before. However any week is the first week of a fortnightly drive for that week and the following week. Therefore if you drive for the maximum 56 hrs in a week you can only have driven for 34 hrs the week before and you can only drive for 34 hrs the following week.

Q Is there any such ruling on "Part Time" driving under the EEC rules?

R All of the legislation refers to 'the driver', whether it is the use of the tachograph, breaks driving or whatever. So if we look at the definition of a driver it is; 'any person who drives the vehicle for a short period, or who is carried in the vehicle in order to be available for driving, if necessary.' Therefore, even if you drove a few yards across a public road to another part of your premises, you became a driver and as such, unfortunately you must comply with all of the regulations.

Q. Is a person allowed to drive at the weekend after doing his normal job in the week?

R. Yes you can drive at the weekend, but you must have a weekly rest of 45 hours, commencing before midnight on Sunday, which may be reduced to 36 hours if at base, or 24 hrs if away from base, which must be compensated before the end of the third week following the reduction. Once you become a driver you must adhere to all of the regulations, which means that in any period of 24 hours you must have a daily rest of 11 hrs, which you may reduce to 9 hrs 3x per week.

Q. Does other work count as driving time? I drive a tanker, when we arrive at site we have to do manual work.

R Only driving on roads open to the public counts as drive time. Manual, other work, or driving on roads not open to the public does not count towards driving time.

Q When working at the back of a mixer wagon and discharging concrete, is this classed as other work or as driving time?

R Work of any kind once you have started to drive vehicles to which the regulations apply, is classed as work. Only when you are actually driving is classed as such.