Stopping On The Hard Shoulder To Take A Break.

[Tannedbaldhead]

Was driving up from the East Midlands to Scotland on Wednesday when I was caught in the massive tailback due to the bad accident on the M1 at Wetherby. Took over two hours to travel 20 miles. Something I noticed was HGVs parking up on the hard shoulder with the driver taking breaks in their passenger seats. Plod seamed to be turning a blind eye.

Question is when did this practice start? I noticed years ago HGVs were parking up on the Hard Shoulder overnight invariably after the exits to service stations but this is the first time I've seem them park up in slow moving traffic. I'm also curious as to whether a driver would get into trouble for driving over his hours if he's caught in a two hour jam.

[waterwonder]

I don't know if it matters but isn't it the A1 or the A1(m) at Whetherby?

I always thought hard shoulder = emergency only. What happens if there is a emergency and the police etc need to respond?

I've never seen it before but would be interested to know.....

[paulshears]

Don't HGV driver's legally have to stop for a break ever X amount of hours?

Maybe their in less "trouble" by stopping on the hard shoulder than driving on to the next layby?

[iva cosworth]

Yes we do have to stop after specific driving times and a huge traffic jam is a massive

PITA.

But in emergencies drivers can exceed hours to get to a safe parking spot.

This must be manually recorded....

[italianjob1275]

Yep. Proccedure is, stop as soon as you can in a safe legal place. Then either do a printout and write the reason for exceeding your hours on it or if you're old school on the reverse of your analogue tachograph.

You shouldn't stop on the hard shoulder

Unless you're one of our eastern European cousins in which case feel free to do whatever the hell you like

[italianjob1275]

Yep. Proccedure is, stop as soon as you can in a safe legal place. Then either do a printout and write the reason for exceeding your hours on it or if you're old school on the reverse of your analogue tachograph.

You shouldn't stop on the hard shoulder

Unless you're one of our eastern European cousins in which case feel free to do whatever the hell you like

[hyperblue]

italianjob1275 said:

Unless you're one of our eastern European cousins in which case feel free to do whatever the hell you like

Yep, frequently see foreign plates lorries parked under bridges, on hatching near slip roads and on the hard shoulder.

[littleredrooster]

Parking on the H/S is illegal, dangerous and utterly stupid. It is the only means of emergency access to an incident and must be kept clear.

Badly trained LGV drivers think that they must take their break at all costs, even if it means putting someone's life in danger.

Gormless Romanians seem to be the worst offenders of the European lot; I've seen them being chased off the H/S all over France, too.

[s p a c e m a n]

You see it more nowadays because of the digi card, exceeding your driving time by a large margin puts a big flashy red light over your name. They don't just look at that one infraction, while they're there they will take a quick glance over the rest of the log so those who regularly bend the rules a bit will do anything they can to stop their card from standing out from the crowd.

If you park on the hard shoulder the police aren't interested, all you get is a womble telling you that you will be recovered if you dont move within a certain time. They don't even bother with the foreigners because all the get is no speeky inglish from them.

[ZR1cliff]

See them try it near the crossing, on the bridge side. They soon get moved on though. There's no need for it, as you're allowed what ever time it takes to find a safe parking place, if you get caught up in a jam and have made a note of it on a tacho print off.

Was pulled into Dagenham VOSA by the old bill last year for a check and they downloaded my card. I had two infringements for going over time, because of accidents closing the M25. One of them I was a long time over. I showed the copper my daily diary and also my tacho print off, with the reason I'd written on the back and they didn't blink an eyelid over it.