Employment laws - working hours

[Nickkk]

Good evening, i was wondering if there’s anything I can do about my working hours that I’m told I now have to complete. my normal hours mon - fri are fine but they have now imposed 24/7 call out on a weeks basis per engineer. i have just finished working 12 hours today as I have to travel a lot into London. I am also on call out 24/7 for the entire week. My question is after completing 12 hours work I can get called out at any point which after travelling to site would add up to a minimum of 18-19 hours work In a 24 hour period. Is this legal? After completing 12 hours with driving included I’m pretty tired and the thought of being called out and another long commute could be potentially dangerous. if I was to attend a call out I’d ensure I didn’t return to work after an 11 hour test period but by the damage may have already been done on a potential 18+ hour day. I would be grateful with any advice as we have an engineers meeting coming up and I want to go armed with some useful knowledge. Thanks in advance*

[ULA]

Have you opted out of the WTR or there is a collective agreement to that effect? If not then on average, you should not work more than 48 hours per week over a 17 week reference period.

In addition, as you have stated you are entitled to a rest period of not less than eleven consecutive hours in each 24-hours and to an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each seven-day period.
*

[Chris1986]

I’m in the exact same situation. I cover on call 1 in 5 weeks, where I can be called out 24/7. I do carry out my normal working day on top of being on call. I’ve brought it up a few times, but the worst thing about my company is that we have no HR dept, so they can essentially make us do what ever they want.