Sleepless in Strasbourg

When the Working Time Regulations arrived most of us Polis must have thought that the bureaucrats in Strasbourg and Brussels had, for once, come up with a blinder what with enforced 11 hour breaks between shifts.

Well, I've just endured (and I use that term intentionally) a week of what's called Step Down shifts from my rostered nightshifts to ensure that my poor body was allowed adequate rest between bouts of work. I now wonder if the writers of this legislation actually envisaged (or tried out) what was implicated. All this disruption was caused by my need to appear in court as a witness. Here's my shifts:

Day 1 - Work 9pm to 6am
Day 2 - Work 5pm to 2am
Day 3 - Work 1pm to 10pm
Day 4 - Work 9am to 6pm

The upshot of it all was that no one was the winner out of this i.e.

• The polis probably had to pay for someone to come in and work my nightshift on days 2, 3 & 4, and get double time to boot. Good for them, but not for the Polis budget or the general public's purses.
• The family at home were deprived of my company and assistance with domestic upkeep (which to be fair is minimal anyway according to she who must be obeyed).
• Mr Plod was heard repeatedly to say between snores both at home and at work, "I'm awake honest."

She who must be obeyed was her usual sympathetic self as I tried to explain the situation in a manner she might understand (I resisted drawing pictures), but I offered her this scenario around a 'normal' person's work day:

Day 1 - Work 8am to 5pm
Day 2 - Work 4am to 1pm
Day 3 - Work Midnight to 9am
Day 4 - Work 8pm to 5am (note however that this would actually be on the third day)

I think I lost her on day two, but I'm sure you get the point. I'm no Doctor, but if this was meant to safeguard and improve my health and welfare, then please can I see the evidence.

p.s. You can probably guess what happened when the trial date arrived.... yep.... sent away at 11am as not required to give evidence.