Tachograph and working-time decision for a coach driver
A coach driver operating a 16-seat minibus on an international excursion has the following record for the current week. Monday: driving 4 h 30 min, other work 2 h, break 45 min split as 15 min then 30 min. Tuesday: driving 9 h 15 min, other work 3 h, break 45 min taken as three 15-minute breaks. Wednesday: driving 10 h 05 min, other work 1 h, break 45 min. Thursday: the driver is asked to start at 05:00 and finish by 21:30 with a 3-hour stop at the destination. On Tuesday evening the driver reports feeling unwell and says the last two hours of driving were hard to remember. The vehicle has a digital tachograph and the driver holds a driver card.
1. Evaluate Tuesday and Wednesday against the daily driving limit and the break rules.
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The daily driving limit for this category is 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours twice in a week. Tuesday at 9 h 15 min is therefore an extension day - legal only if it is one of the two permitted 10-hour days and is recorded as such. Wednesday at 10 h 05 min exceeds even the extended limit and is not legal. On breaks: after 4 h 30 min of driving a break of at least 45 min is required, which may be split into a first part of at least 15 min followed by a second part of at least 30 min, taken in that order. Monday's 15 + 30 split is correct. Tuesday's three 15-minute breaks do not satisfy the rule, because the second part must be at least 30 minutes; that day is a break infringement as well as a driving-time issue. Wednesday's single 45-minute break is correctly formed but cannot cure the excess driving.
2. The driver reports poor recall of the last two hours on Tuesday. What should the operator do, and how does this interact with the tachograph record?
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Treat it as a fitness-to-drive issue first, not a paperwork issue. Poor recall of a driving period suggests fatigue or a possible micro-sleep, so the driver should not continue and should be assessed - if unwell, seek medical advice before the next duty. The operator must not schedule the Thursday early start until fitness is confirmed. The tachograph record is evidence but not a defence: the fact that the record shows the vehicle moving does not prove the driver was fit, and the operator has a duty to plan schedules that make the limits achievable. Record the report, keep the printouts, and if the driver was unfit, arrange cover. Any infringement found on download must be explained in writing; systematically unachievable schedules are an operator failure, not just a driver failure.
3. Assess the proposed Thursday duty: 05:00 to 21:30 with a 3-hour stop.
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The spread is 16 h 30 min, which is too long. The daily rest requirement means the driver must have completed a regular daily rest of at least 11 hours within each 24-hour period from the end of the previous rest; a reduced rest of 9 hours is possible but limited in number and must be compensated. A 05:00 start with a 21:30 finish leaves no room for the required rest before a plausible next duty. The 3-hour stop counts as break/rest, not as shortening the spread automatically, and the driving between 05:00 and 21:30 must still fit within the daily driving limit and the 4 h 30 min break rule. The correct response is to redesign the duty: a later start, a shorter spread, or an overnight stay at the destination so the return leg begins after a full rest. Also account for the weekly driving limit and the fortnightly total before confirming.