Tachos

[cossy400]

Can somebody explain to me period of availability?

In simple tterms does it mean If you were to turn up at a drop at say 11am stuff not ready till 2pm then you d switch to POA rather than break?

Reason i ask ive had some jump start who started last week telling me different and i cannot find my booklet with it all in.

[4keymonsta]

I've always understood it as if they tell you that you have to wait for a certain amount of time then it is POA. If they dont specify the length of time then its working time

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/Transport_Theme_fil...

If driver is notified of specified waiting time = POA
Unspecified waiting time = working time

Periods of Availability examples

•Expected wait for loading/unloading and you are free to dispose of your time (such as waiting in canteen or rest area)
•Expected delay at a customers' premises (where you are free to dispose of your time)
•Expected waiting time with broken down vehicle
•Accompanying vehicle being transported by boat or rail
•Foreseeable time waiting at frontiers
•Double Manning (i.e. travelling in the cab as a relief driver)
•Reporting for work, but you are not required to undertake duties, but are to told to remain available on site for a foreseeable period of time
•Expected wait is known, but the driver remains in the cab for reasons of safety e.g. transporting dangerous goods.

e.t.a I've just read your actual question properly and no, you shouldnt switch it to break if you are waiting to be loaded. If you fk off down to the burger van on stick it in the corner of the yard and jump on the bed then you can stick it to break.

Noone does that though, we pull up stick it to break and randomly doss about. Which is why you sometimes find a vosa van sitting outside Tescos distribution centers pulling the lorrys on the way out after theyve tipped/loaded and stinging them for not using the modes correctly

Edited by 4keymonsta on Wednesday 30th May 19:18

[R0G]

The simplest rule is - if you get paid for recording break then forget POA

POA rule is that the driver must be told or know the waiting time

There is always a 2 hour delay here
Get to place and get told it will be 2 hours drive
Note on gate at noon - lunch 12 to 1pm

All those can be POA

[R0G]

4keymonsta said:

I've always understood it .......e.t.a I've just read your actual question properly and no, you shouldnt switch it to break if you are waiting to be loaded. If you fk off down to the burger van on stick it in the corner of the yard and jump on the bed then you can stick it to break.

That is legally incorrect

The legal requirements for break are less than those for POA so in any situation where not driving or working then break can be legally used

[cossy400]

Thanks chaps so basically if its over 2 hours then its POA?

[R0G]

cossy400 said:

Thanks chaps so basically if its over 2 hours then its POA?

I used 2 hours as an example

POA can be 1 minute

Breaks can be 1 minute but breaks under 15 mins cannot count as driving time breaks but they are still breaks

Forget POA - there is no legal requirement to use it

The driver not the company has the legal choice of which mode is to be recorded

[leggly]

It's just a way to allow you to work the same hours we always did!

[Cock Womble 7]

R0G said:

Forget POA - there is no legal requirement to use it

The driver not the company has the legal choice of which mode is to be recorded

Thanks for that. We have a "supervisor" who insists we put the tacho on POA at the slightest opportunity. I always thought it was only to be used when you know roughly how long you're going to be hanging around for, not as some default setting.


By the way, even though POA "doesn't count towards breaks or working time" it does seem to reset driving time and breaks on your tacho - which makes it tricky to remember how long you've been driving for.

[R0G]

Cock Womble 7 said:

Thanks for that. We have a "supervisor" who insists we put the tacho on POA at the slightest opportunity. I always thought it was only to be used when you know roughly how long you're going to be hanging around for, not as some default setting.


By the way, even though POA "doesn't count towards breaks or working time" it does seem to reset driving time and breaks on your tacho - which makes it tricky to remember how long you've been driving for.

If company policy says to use POA then you could be in a bit of a bind but its easy to say that no specific waiting time was mentioned so by law you could not use POA and therefore used break

As law trumps company policy then the company will not be able to do anything

I agree that the software in digis allowing POA to count as break is stupid and I can see no reason why that cannot be sorted

Thw laws are the same for all in the EU so it makes no sense

[Life Saab Itch]

I've never used POA.

Some guys at our yard are obsessed by it, but they can't tell me what advantage it gives them.

I don't get infringements and I don't run out of hours.

Why bother?

[Humper]

Life Saab Itch said:

I've never used POA.

Some guys at our yard are obsessed by it, but they can't tell me what advantage it gives them.

I don't get infringements and I don't run out of hours.

Why bother?

My thoughts exactly