Q The drivers in our company are employed on c.o.d. deliveries
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of domestic fiiel oil and on Saturday mornings we sign on at 7.30 am, make about 10 c.o.d. deliveries and get back to the yard about 1 pm. We then have to check, count and pay in the money we have collected. This involves some quite considerable sums and our company says that as we have been driving 5+ hours, we must take a statutory break before dealing with the cash.
We are reluctant to delay paying in cash for half an hour, for obvious reasons, and apart from this, the break delays our booking off duty for the weekend. Is the firm correct in saying that we must take a statutory break?
A Section 96 of the Transport Act makes provision for maximum permitted driving times and hours of duty. Section 96(2) (a) states that a driver must be given an interval of not less than half an hour to obtain rest and refreshment after he has been on duty for 5+ hours. Section 96 (2) (b) renders this unnecessary if the end of the rest period would be the end of the working day but this would not be so in the case you have quoted. Whatever the risk to the money which might, be involved, your employer has no alternative but to ask you to take half an hour's break after 5+ hours on duty.