Truck driver rest rules....really?
Discussion
I had the BM's run-flat warning sounding for the last 30 miles of my journey home late last night. I was too tired to sort it so when I left at 6:00am this morning headed straight for the only garage with an airline near me.
This BP garage has an M&S store on site and parked up right in front of the airline was an M&S artic with engine idling. When I approached the driver he gestured at me that he was having 'T'...and when I asked him to back up 10mtrs he refused saying he was on his break and would be sacked if he reversed. I did question if rolling back 10 mtrs on a private forecourt would constitute breaking the driving regs, but he point blank refused to shift back as he needed a further hour rest......so I had to jump on the M3 for 5 junctions at a 50mph crawl to get to another airline.
Question is....was he right or was he a G I T?
This BP garage has an M&S store on site and parked up right in front of the airline was an M&S artic with engine idling. When I approached the driver he gestured at me that he was having 'T'...and when I asked him to back up 10mtrs he refused saying he was on his break and would be sacked if he reversed. I did question if rolling back 10 mtrs on a private forecourt would constitute breaking the driving regs, but he point blank refused to shift back as he needed a further hour rest......so I had to jump on the M3 for 5 junctions at a 50mph crawl to get to another airline.
Question is....was he right or was he a G I T?
He was completely correct. If he had moved he would more than likely lost his job.
Some big companies follow the letter of the law and him moving his truck would have been an infringement of the hours regulations.
The Electronic "black box" tachograph recorder would have shown he moved, even if it was 6 inches.
Some big companies follow the letter of the law and him moving his truck would have been an infringement of the hours regulations.
The Electronic "black box" tachograph recorder would have shown he moved, even if it was 6 inches.
He was right. The tachograph records his movement during legally required rest periods. Unfortunately, it doesn't record the pleasant environment he may have been in or whether he's parked unhelpfully in respect of someone who has ignored a potentially safety critical warning for miles.
vikingaero said:
Nowadays you see loads of lorries blocking full laybys with their hazards on "because they are on their break". Then when space(s) is/are freed up they can't move. The world revolves around them...
Car drivers complain when lorries don't pull into laybys and now they complain when they do pull into laybys.There's just no pleasing some people!
[quote=750turbo]And are the relevant enforcement agencies that anally retentive that they are going to do him for moving 0.015Kms?
Really?
Surely he should have parked in a designated parking area though?[/quote
Vosa/DVSA as they are now called are self funding so him interrupting his break could cost him. Obviously with a cast iron excuse he d be lucky.
But I think its more to do with his firm.
Simple terms is 45 mins of break with in 4 &half hours driving.
Can be split but it must be 15 then 30.
His problem (could) be hes 20 mins in he moves he lk have to start again.
This is why his boss would be asking the. questions.
One day out with one of us and you d see how rock and roll it can be.
Really?
Surely he should have parked in a designated parking area though?[/quote
Vosa/DVSA as they are now called are self funding so him interrupting his break could cost him. Obviously with a cast iron excuse he d be lucky.
But I think its more to do with his firm.
Simple terms is 45 mins of break with in 4 &half hours driving.
Can be split but it must be 15 then 30.
His problem (could) be hes 20 mins in he moves he lk have to start again.
This is why his boss would be asking the. questions.
One day out with one of us and you d see how rock and roll it can be.
I guess that explains why you often see 3 or 4 parked up together on the hard shoulder during/after hold ups on the motorway...presumably caught out by unexpected and irresolvable delays..... Stupid law if it's that inflexible they even have to stop and park in dangerous places, potentially obstructing emergency vehicles, just to comply with something designed to improve safety of all road users?
There was a lorry driver on one of the police traffic programs getting done for not having enough rest. He had driven across Europe to a channel port, stuck the lorry on a ferry, then on disembarking at Dover waited a few hours until he reckoned he'd had enough of a break.
But the police counted the rest break as having started when he parked at Dover after driving off the ferry. A bit harsh for the driver, he was treated exactly as if he had driven straight off the ferry and onto the motorway.
But the police counted the rest break as having started when he parked at Dover after driving off the ferry. A bit harsh for the driver, he was treated exactly as if he had driven straight off the ferry and onto the motorway.
Nigel Worc's said:
I had one that wouldn't let me out of a layby recently.
Strange how they can move when a Police Constable tells them to.
They can be absolute arses.
A police officer will sign to say that they have been directed to do so Strange how they can move when a Police Constable tells them to.
They can be absolute arses.
That means the DVSA cannot give the driver a fine
Zedboy1200 said:
I guess that explains why you often see 3 or 4 parked up together on the hard shoulder during/after hold ups on the motorway...presumably caught out by unexpected and irresolvable delays..... Stupid law if it's that inflexible they even have to stop and park in dangerous places, potentially obstructing emergency vehicles, just to comply with something designed to improve safety of all road users?
Vosa & the police aren't (generally) that pedantic. If a driver incurs a rest period whilst held up in say an accident in front of them, then they are permitted to drive over their time in order to find a safe place to stop. Once stopped though, they are not allowed to drive or do any other work. This stuff may be annoying, but you should consider that the alternative is dog tired drivers careering around in 44ton lorries, wiping out innocent families and cute puppies.
The rules are there because in no small part, the past is littered with dead people killed by drivers who were either wholly irresponsible or more often, pushed to the limits by unscrupulous bosses.
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