meal breaks for lgv drivers

[forestbodd]

when will the union go back and get our meal breaks paid for us sitting in a layby is not what i call rest and next time the unoin at local level get a set of duties make sure you check them

[heathrow86]

This issue really racks me and my colleagues in the VOC i work in off. For example there is an Xmas duty in my office which is a 12 & three quarter hour job, you have 1:30 minutes of unpaid break time even though i am there for all that time. I asked my rep why this is and he said that when the PDA was negotiated back in 2007 the business added the unpaid break element afterwards. By then it was to late so the CWU had to take it or leave it! I do stand to be corrected though.

Anyway the rep told me that the union has co sponsored a document that has gone to the EU about the unpaid meal break issues, as to whether it was legal to be unpaid.

[DAF85]

when will the union go back and get our meal breaks paid for us sitting in a layby is not what i call rest and next time the unoin at local level get a set of duties make sure you check them

Laybye - that would be luxury - how about the duties where u get your meal relief while being un/loaded at a customer and the hassle that entails.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

when will the union go back and get our meal breaks paid for us sitting in a lay-by is not what i call rest and next time the Union at local level get a set of duties make sure you check them

Lay-by - that would be luxury - how about the duties where u get your meal relief while being un/loaded at a customer and the hassle that entails.

Isn't that illegal - and if not questionable.

If your on a Tacco and on a recorded break then you cannot ensure that the trailer is beingsafely safetly and correctly. Your either on a break or supervising the loading of the trailer you cannot surely.

From my training I thought you as the driver have the ultimate responsibility for the safe loading and operation of your vehicle so I can't see how legally Royal Mail or the customers, can stipulate that you take a break on their premises, or why the CWU has not questioned the practice.

[Talell]

It's normal practice to have someone ( or multiple people) load a lorry/trailer.

Yes, it is the drivers responsibility to ensure the load is safe and legal to haul, but it doesn't require him to load it himself, he just has to check it before departing, or goto the local weighbridge if there isn't one onsite (it is legal to carry an illegal load as long as you are progressing directly to a weighbridge or back (like you can drive a car without a MOT to a garage to get MOT'd)).

[DAF85]

Isn't that illegal - and if not questionable.

If your on a Tacco and on a recorded break then you cannot ensure that the trailer is beingsafely safetly and correctly. Your either on a break or supervising the loading of the trailer you cannot surely.

From my training I thought you as the driver have the ultimate responsibility for the safe loading and operation of your vehicle so I can't see how legally Royal Mail or the customers, can stipulate that you take a break on their premises, or why the CWU has not questioned the practice.

And there in lies the source of a lot of hassle. For example when using a 92 york trailer at a MC - the top deck may get loaded and raised and the bottom deck loaded while the driver is on break. The driver is then well within his rights to get the lower deck emptied and the top deck dropped so he can check it. (something I do on a regular basis) Imagine the hassle that causes and the grief the driver gets from managers....... The CWU have agreed the duty sets and content with un/loading while on break so no support from that angle. As you rightly say, it is down to the driver to ensure the vehicle is loaded safely.
Don't mention the hassle you get at Amazon depots with breaks and loading..... and the trailer being loaded unsighted behind locked doors.....

Going back to the original topic, the loss of pay for breaks was voted in by the short sighted in the PDA when they saw the supposed pay increase so the chances of getting paid breaks back are remote at best. @Heathrow86 The unpaid break element was in the PDA before the vote was taken.

If any paid breaks were reinstated I would guess the most likely scenario would be to only get paid breaks after the initial unpaid 45 mins - so addressing the problem of the 12 hour shifts etc ?

[postietaz]

thought all meal breaks were meant to be scheduled in at royal mail premises ,how can you take a meal relief at a customers ??cant see the guy waiting to get in the yard being to pleased about waiting 45 mins lol cos once its on break it aint moving .

[DAF85]

thought all meal breaks were meant to be scheduled in at royal mail premises ,how can you take a meal relief at a customers ??cant see the guy waiting to get in the yard being to pleased about waiting 45 mins lol cos once its on break it aint moving .

yet that's what happens