Robertj21a
On Moderation
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2013
- Messages
- 7,523
The answer is that no-one knows for sure. There are people stating things as fact here that are actually their own interpretation rather than fact.
As a rail replacement practitioner for over 15 years in all capacities, I’ve never seen a definitive statement of law about which rules apply where.
I’ve always adopted the pragmatic view that a timetabled service less than 50km in length can be worked under domestic hours and I think that’s the generally common approach.
My view is that anything longer than 50kms must be worked under EU hours.
I have encountered every possible interpretation of emergency work at various times in various places - some day domestic is okay, others that it must be EU, others that no rules apply. The only one I’m really comfortable with is the middle one, but could I honestly say I’ve never worked an emergency turn under domestic hours? No, I couldn’t
Of course, even if a duty can be worked under domestic hours, coach operators will usually choose to work it under EU hours anyway, because all the rest of their work is EU so it makes the record keeping too complex if they do occasional domestic work. Some operators are more comfortable mixing than others.
I have often found myself in a situation as a supervisor where duties have been prepared under domestic hours, and the buses and bus drivers are ploughing up and down quite happily, but the coaches and coach drivers are needing extra breaks because they’re under instruction to work to EU hours regardless of what the duty says (and that’s one sure fire way to get the bus drivers’ backs up!)
Despite the statements of certainty further up this thread, unless there is a definitive source that has eluded me for the last fifteen years, this will continue to be a matter of interpretation until either the authorities issue a definitive ruling (as they did with PSVAR in the autumn) or until an issue arises that leads to it being tested in the courts - and I doubt any bus or train operator has the stomach for that fight.
Thanks, Phil, you've accurately summed up what I felt most people had taken to be the generally accepted approach for some years.