33-Hour Weekly Rest and Compensation
You are a bus driver. You finished duty at 21:00 on Friday and your tachograph shows a weekly rest beginning then. Your planner asks you to start a private hire at 06:00 on Sunday, which would give you a 33-hour rest. Two weeks ago you took a reduced weekly rest of 36 hours. Last weekend you took a full 45-hour weekly rest. You have a 45-hour rest planned for next weekend. The planner says the Sunday job is 'only a short run' and that you can make up the rest later. You must decide whether the 33-hour rest is lawful, what compensation is required, and what records you need to keep. You also need to consider whether a daily rest rule affects the Sunday start.
1. Is a 33-hour weekly rest lawful in this case? Explain the weekly rest rules.
Read the worked answer
Weekly rest rule. A regular weekly rest is 45 hours. It may be reduced to not less than 24 hours, but not in two consecutive weeks: at least one regular 45-hour rest must be taken in any two consecutive weeks. Application. A 33-hour rest is a reduced weekly rest. It is lawful here because last weekend was a full 45 hours and next weekend is also planned as 45 hours. Compensation. The shortfall is 45 - 33 = 12 hours. That 12 hours must be taken en bloc with another rest of at least 9 hours by the end of the third week following this week. Also check whether the 36-hour rest two weeks ago was compensated; if not, that is outstanding. 'Make it up later' is only lawful if it meets those conditions.
2. What records must you keep and produce?
Read the worked answer
Records. Keep tachograph records for the current day and the previous 28 days, including manual entries for rest taken away from the vehicle. Record the weekly rest periods, including the start and end times, so the reduced rest and compensation can be shown. Production. You must be able to produce the records when requested by an enforcement officer. The operator must retain and analyse them. Practical. If the Sunday start is agreed, enter the weekly rest manually if the tachograph was not running, and diarise the 12-hour compensation. Do not rely on a verbal arrangement.
3. Does the Sunday start create a daily rest issue?
Read the worked answer
Daily rest. The 33-hour weekly rest is long enough to include the daily rest for the period before Sunday duty, so the 06:00 start is not a daily-rest breach in itself. After Sunday. The next daily rest must be at least 11 hours, reducible to 9 hours no more than three times between weekly rests. If the Sunday duty is long or late, check that the following rest still fits. Planning. The weekly rest does not create extra driving time; the normal daily and weekly driving limits still apply.