TachoClear lets you record driving, other work and breaks separately. This shift shows why loading time matters when deciding when to stop, and how one pair of breaks can meet both sets of requirements.
Scope: a solo goods-vehicle driver working wholly in Great Britain under the assimilated drivers' hours rules and the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005. The example excludes GB domestic-only driving, Northern Ireland's separate working-time legislation, passenger services and international/AETR journeys.
Count the work before you count the driving
Loading, unloading and vehicle checks count as working time, as does driving. Breaks and qualifying periods of availability do not. DVSA's working-time annex lists the activities that count.
Under regulation 7, you must not work for more than six hours without a break. Each part of a working-time break must last at least 15 minutes. The shift's total work also matters:
- More than six and up to nine hours of work requires at least 30 minutes of breaks in total.
- More than nine hours of work requires at least 45 minutes in total.
A 15-minute break can interrupt a six-hour run of work while contributing only part of the break total you need for the complete shift. The breaks must interrupt the working period; adding them after all the work is finished does not meet that requirement.
At noon, the working-time break comes first
This illustrative driver starts after sufficient rest, with no earlier driving in this driving period and no earlier split-break first part. All breaks below are uninterrupted, free of driving and other work, and used to recuperate. There is no POA in this example.
- 06:00 to 08:00: loading and vehicle checks, two hours of other work.
- 08:00 to 11:00: three hours of driving.
- 11:00 to 12:00: unloading, one hour of other work.
At 12:00, the driver has done six consecutive hours of work, including three hours of driving. A break is needed before doing more work. Waiting until the driving total reaches 4 hours 30 minutes would mean working beyond six hours without a break.
The driver takes a 15-minute break from 12:00 to 12:15. That interrupts the work and, because it also meets the driving-break conditions, can be the first part of a split driving break.
The driving total is still three hours. This 15-minute break does not start a new 4.5-hour driving period. The driver has another 1 hour 30 minutes of driving available before completing the second part.
At 13:45, complete the split
- 12:15 to 13:45: drive for 1 hour 30 minutes.
- 13:45 to 14:15: take an uninterrupted 30-minute break.
- 14:15 to 16:15: do two hours of other work, then finish.
At 13:45, accumulated driving is 4 hours 30 minutes. The later 30-minute break completes the earlier 15-minute first part. At 14:15, the qualifying split is complete and a new driving period can begin.
DVSA's driving-break guidance requires at least 45 minutes after no more than 4.5 hours of driving, unless taking a rest period. The split alternative is at least 15 minutes followed by at least 30. Thirty then fifteen does not complete that pattern, because the second part is too short.
The completed shift contains:
- Driving: 4 hours 30 minutes.
- Other work: five hours.
- Total work: 9 hours 30 minutes.
- Breaks: 45 minutes, taken as 15 then 30.
- Elapsed shift: 10 hours 15 minutes.
Work runs last six hours, then 1 hour 30 minutes, then two hours. The breaks interrupt those runs and provide the 45-minute total needed because work exceeds nine hours. They also complete the driving split. DVSA confirms that driving breaks can also satisfy working-time breaks when the requirements are met.
Use the same activities in your records
Record loading, checks and unloading as other work, and record only the break you actually took. In TachoClear, keeping those activities separate helps you follow the shift alongside your tachograph. Updating the app does not change the tachograph record.
Before continuing, check accumulated driving, the current run of work and the break total needed for the whole shift. Daily and weekly driving limits, night work, rest and other requirements still need checking separately; this example checks the break pattern.
If your wait at a depot might be availability rather than work, use the POA worked shift to check its conditions. For the shorter reference explanations, read working-time and driving breaks and split breaks.