Driving time and a 20-minute break
You drive a 7.5 t C1 lorry for hire and reward with a digital tachograph and your driver card inserted. Since your last daily rest you drove for 2 h 15 min, took a 20 min break, then drove for 2 h 30 min. You are now at 4 h 45 min of driving. The dispatcher calls: the unloading point is 35 km away, about 40 min, and asks you to finish the delivery before taking a break. You have no infringements earlier in the week and 9 h of daily driving available. The vehicle is otherwise roadworthy and the tachograph is working. You must decide what to do immediately, whether the 20 min break helps, and what to record or tell the dispatcher.
1. What should you do immediately, and does the 20-minute break make the driving legal?
Read the worked answer
Stop at the first safe place and do not drive the remaining 35 km. You have reached 4 h 45 min without completing a valid 45-minute break, so you have already exceeded the 4 h 30 min driving limit. The 20-minute break can count as the first part of a split break only if it is at least 15 minutes and is followed by at least 30 minutes before the 4 h 30 min limit is exceeded. That did not happen. Take at least 45 minutes of continuous break now to reset, and record the infringement honestly; the tachograph will show it in any case.
2. The dispatcher insists the delivery is urgent. What is your legal position?
Read the worked answer
The dispatcher cannot require you to breach driving-time rules, and urgency is not an excuse. As the driver, you are responsible for your tachograph records and for complying with the limits. Refuse the request, tell the dispatcher that you are taking the required break, and let the delivery be delayed. Do not falsify the record or use another driver card. If the company pressures you, keep a note of the instruction and report it through the appropriate internal or enforcement channel.
3. After the break, how should you plan the rest of the day?
Read the worked answer
After a full 45-minute break, you may drive again, but you must respect the daily driving limit of 9 hours, which leaves about 4 h 15 min. The daily driving period may be extended to 10 hours twice a week, but there is no need to use an extension for a 40-minute delivery. Plan the remaining driving, breaks and daily rest so that you do not create a second infringement. Check that your daily rest will fit within the 24-hour period; if it will not, adjust the plan before moving.