The second 10-hour day and a delayed ferry
At 05:00 on Wednesday a driver for a Bergen haulier starts duty after a full 11-hour daily rest. The digital tachograph shows: 2 h 15 min driving, 45 min break, 3 h 30 min driving, 45 min break, 2 h driving. He has already used one 10-hour daily driving extension on Tuesday. He reaches the ferry queue at 14:30. The ferry is delayed 1 h 30 min; the crossing takes 45 min. From the terminal he needs 1 h 30 min driving to the consignee, 20 min unloading, then 40 min driving to a hotel. His employer tells him to leave the tachograph on break for the whole ferry wait and crossing so the schedule works. In the queue he is free to rest, but on the ferry he has only a reclining seat. He must be available again at 06:00 on Thursday. The lorry has a working digital tachograph and a printer.
1. Can the planned driving be completed under the EU and Norwegian driving-time rules using the remaining 10-hour extension? Show the arithmetic.
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Current driving is 2 h 15 + 3 h 30 + 2 h = 7 h 45. Planned driving after the ferry is 1 h 30 + 0 h 40 = 2 h 10, so the total would be 9 h 55. That is inside a 10-hour daily driving extension. He has used one extension on Tuesday, so a second extension on Wednesday is allowed only if no third extension is used before the next weekly rest. The 45-minute break requirement is also met: since the last 45-minute break he will have driven 2 h + 1 h 30 + 0 h 40 = 4 h 10, which is below 4 h 30. The critical point is the daily rest. Duty started at 05:00, so the 24-hour window closes at 05:00 on Thursday. The planned finish at the hotel is 14:30 + 1 h 30 waiting + 0 h 45 crossing + 1 h 30 driving + 0 h 20 unloading + 0 h 40 driving = 19:15. A reduced daily rest of 9 hours from 19:15 ends at 04:15 on Thursday, so it fits inside the 24-hour window. The answer is therefore yes, but only with a 9-hour reduced daily rest starting no later than 20:00, and only if the ferry time is recorded truthfully.
2. How should the ferry waiting time and the crossing be recorded, and what manual entries or printouts are needed?
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The queue time may be recorded as break only if he is genuinely free to rest and is not doing paperwork, checking the load or supervising loading. If he is working, it must be other work. The crossing should normally be recorded using the ferry/train mode, not simply left on break, because the crossing is not automatically a rest period and the mode preserves the continuity of the shift. The employer's instruction to record the whole period as break is not acceptable if it does not match what actually happened. If any time is not captured correctly, he should make a manual entry on the digital tachograph and print a daily record showing the reason. He should sign the printout and keep it with the other records for the required retention period. The key is that the record must show real activity, not the activity that makes the schedule look legal.
3. What daily rest must he take, and by what time must it start? What changes if the ferry is delayed by a further 60 minutes?
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He needs a reduced daily rest of at least 9 hours. To complete it before the 24-hour window closes at 05:00 on Thursday, it must start by 20:00 on Wednesday. The planned arrival at 19:15 allows the rest to run from 19:15 to 04:15. A further 60-minute delay would make the planned finish 20:15. A 9-hour rest from 20:15 would end at 05:15, which is outside the 24-hour window. He cannot repair this by taking a longer break or by driving faster. He must either take the daily rest earlier, for example at the consignee if suitable sleeping facilities are available, or replan the last leg so that the rest starts by 20:00. If neither is possible, the schedule is illegal and the delivery must be re-planned.