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Drivers Hours Questions

If you wish to seek advice submit your questions here.

European Community and International Driving Rules 

REGULATION (EC) No 561/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 15 March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport and amending Council Regulations (EEC) No 3821/85 and (EC) No 2135/98 and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 3820/85, Regulation in full 

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 3821/85 of 20 December 1985  on recording equipment in road transport.

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VOSA - EC Drivers Hours  From 11th of April 2007

VOSA - Drivers' Hours and Tachograph Rules for Goods Vehicles

VOSA - Drivers' Hours and Tachograph Rules for Road Passenger Vehicles

DIRECTIVE 2006/22/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2006 - Roadside and Premises checks by VOSA

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2135/98 of 24 September 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport and Directive 88/599/EEC concerning the application of Regulations (EEC) No 3820/84 and (EEC) No 3821/85

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1360/2002 of 13 June 2002 adapting for the seventh time to technical progress Council Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 on recording equipment in road transport

4X4 User Guide for tachographs

The Road Transport Directive (Working Time Directive)

DIRECTIVE 2002/15/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 March 2002 on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities

The regulation in PDF format       53 kb

Dft  Road Transport (Working Time) Guidance

• What is Working Time

Maximum driving periods...

'Driving time’ means the duration of driving activity recorded:

— automatically or semi-automatically by the recording equipment as defined in Annex I and Annex IB of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85, or
— manually as required by Article 16(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85;

‘Daily driving time’ means the total accumulated driving time between the end of one daily rest period and the beginning of the following daily rest period or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period;
 

‘Weekly driving time’ means the total accumulated driving time during a week;

'Break’ means any period during which a driver may not carry out any driving or any other work and which is used exclusively for recuperation;

Continuous driving period
After a driving period of four and a half hours a driver shall take an uninterrupted break of not less than 45 minutes, unless he takes a rest period.

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This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a break of at least 30 minutes each distributed over the period in such a way as to comply with the provisions of the first paragraph.

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Comment

Unlike the old legislation where you were able to take a 19 minute + 26 minute break, for example, it now appears that if you take a 19 minute break or any break below 45 minutes then you still need to take another 30 minute break.

It is also important to note that with the definition of break that a POA is not a break.  Where drivers are required to be available should they need to resume working they cannot class this as a break.

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Daily driving limit
The daily driving time shall not exceed nine hours.

However, the daily driving time may be extended to at most 10 hours not more than twice during the week.

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Comment

No change

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Weekly driving limit

The weekly driving time shall not exceed 56 hours and shall not result in the maximum weekly working time laid down in Directive 2002/15/EC being exceeded.

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Comment

New.  You must now take into account the working time directive which allows an average of 48 hours working time and a maximum of 60 working per week.  This means that you will not be able to perform 56 hours driving if you have performed more than 4 hours other work during the week, or to do so will increase your weekly average over to over 48 hours.

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Fortnightly driving limit
The total accumulated driving time during any two consecutive weeks shall not exceed 90 hours.

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Comment

No change

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Off road and out of scope driving

The Articles apply to 'carriage by road', 

‘carriage by road’ means any journey made entirely or in part on roads open to the public by a vehicle, whether laden or not, used for the carriage of passengers or goods;

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Comment

This regulation has been changed to include off road driving.

Daily and weekly driving times shall include all driving time on the territory of the Community or of a third country.

A driver shall record as other work any time spent as described in Article 4(e) as well as any time spent driving a vehicle used for commercial operations not falling within the scope of this Regulation, and shall record any periods of availability, as defined in Article 15(3)(c) of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85, since his last daily or weekly rest period. This record shall be entered either manually on a record sheet, a printout or by use of manual input facilities on recording equipment.

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Comment

This is an important change meaning that where you drive a commercial vehicle which is not covered by these regulations within a week where you drive a vehicle covered by this regulation, then you must record other work and driving as other work and you must record any POA's.

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Multi manning

Multi-manning’ means the situation where, during each period of driving between any two consecutive daily rest periods, or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period, there are at least two drivers in the vehicle to do the driving. For the first hour of multi-manning the presence of another driver or drivers is optional but for the remainder of the period it is compulsory;

Within 30 hours of the end of a daily or weekly rest period, a driver engaged in multi-manning must have taken a new daily rest period of at least nine hours.

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Rest periods...

‘Rest’ means any uninterrupted period during which a driver may freely dispose of his time;
 

‘Daily rest period’ means the daily period during which a driver may freely dispose of his time and covers a ‘regular daily rest period’ and a ‘reduced daily rest period’:
 

‘Regular daily rest period’ means any period of rest of at least 11 hours. Alternatively, this regular daily rest period may be taken in two periods, the first of which must be an uninterrupted period of at least 3 hours and the second an uninterrupted period of at least nine hours,

‘Reduced daily rest period’ means any period of rest of at least nine hours but less than 11 hours;
 

‘Weekly rest period’ means the weekly period during which a driver may freely dispose of his time and covers a ‘regular weekly rest period’ and a ‘reduced weekly rest period’:

‘Regular weekly rest period’ means any period of rest of at least 45 hours,

‘Reduced weekly rest period’ means any period of rest of less than 45 hours, which may, subject to the conditions laid down in Article 8(6), be shortened to a minimum of 24 consecutive hours;

‘A week’ means the period of time between 00.00 on Monday and 24.00 on Sunday;

A driver shall take daily and weekly rest periods. 

Daily Rest

2. Within each period of 24 hours after the end of the previous daily rest period or weekly rest period a driver shall have taken a new daily rest period. If the portion of the daily rest period which falls within that 24 hour period is at least nine hours but less than 11 hours, then the daily rest period in question shall be regarded as a reduced daily rest period.

3. A daily rest period may be extended to make a regular weekly rest period or a reduced weekly rest period.

4. A driver may have at most three reduced daily rest periods between any two weekly rest periods.

5. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, within 30 hours of the end of a daily or weekly rest period, a driver engaged in multi-manning must have taken a new daily rest period of at least nine hours.

Daily rest reduction

You can only reduce a daily rest below 11 hrs on three occasions between any two weekly rest periods.  This can be on consecutive days and remember if you take 10.59 daily rest then this is a reduction. You do not have to go down to 9hrs.

Where a driver chooses to do this, daily rest periods and reduced weekly rest periods away from base may be taken in a vehicle, as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities for each driver and the vehicle is stationary.

Comment

• No compensation is required for Daily Rest Reductions

• Double manned vehicles have their Daily Rest increased from 8 hours in 30 to 9 hours in 30.

• Daily rest reductions now apply to days between two weekly rest periods rather than before, which applied to the fixed week Monday to Sunday.

Split daily rest

:

— ‘regular daily rest period’ means any period of rest of at least 11 hours. Alternatively, this regular daily rest period may be taken in two periods, the first of which must be an uninterrupted period of at least 3 hours and the second an uninterrupted period of at least 9 hours

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Weekly Rest

6. In any two consecutive weeks a driver shall take at least:

— two regular weekly rest periods, or

— one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period of at least 24 hours. However, the reduction shall be compensated by an equivalent period of rest taken en bloc before the end of the third week following the week in question.

Comment

You can no longer take 3 weekly rest reductions in a row. Remember the end of any week is midnight on Sunday. On the third week rest going over midnight on Sunday into Monday does not count as compensation.  

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Any rest taken as compensation for a reduced weekly rest period shall be attached to another rest period of at least nine hours.

A weekly rest period shall start no later than at the end of six 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest period.

A weekly rest period that falls in two weeks may be counted in either week, but not in both.

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Ferry or train journeys...

By way of derogation from Article 8, where a driver accompanies a vehicle which is transported by ferry or train, and takes a regular daily rest period, that period may be interrupted not more than twice by other activities not exceeding one hour in total. During that regular daily rest period the driver shall have access to a bunk or couchette.

Comment

The rest interruption is increased from once to twice.

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Miscellaneous...

Emergencies

Provided that road safety is not thereby jeopardised and to enable the vehicle to reach a suitable stopping place, the driver may depart from Articles 6 to 9 to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of persons, of the vehicle or its load. The driver shall indicate the reason for such departure manually on the record sheet of the recording equipment or on a printout from the recording equipment or in the duty roster, at the latest on arrival at the suitable stopping place.

Comment

This must be in unforeseen circumstances.   For example if you are transporting a load of whiskey to a bonded warehouse, if you know that it will take longer than four and a half hours to get there before you set off, you cannot exceed your driving time just to get the load to a safe stopping place i.e. the bonded warehouse.

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Travelling to collect vehicle

Any time spent by a driver driving a vehicle which falls outside the scope of this Regulation to or from a vehicle which falls within the scope of this Regulation, which is not at the driver's home or at the employer's operational centre where the driver is normally based, shall count as other work.

Comment

New

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Any time spent travelling to a location to take charge of a vehicle falling within the scope of this Regulation, or to return from that location, when the vehicle is neither at the driver's home nor at the employer's operational centre where the driver is normally based, shall not be counted as a rest or break unless the driver is on a ferry or train and has access to a bunk or couchette.

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Comment

New

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Prohibition of vehicle/driver/operator

To address cases where a Member State considers that there has been an infringement of this Regulation which is of a kind that is clearly liable to endanger road safety, it shall empower the relevant competent authority to proceed with immobilisation of the vehicle concerned until such time as the cause of the infringement has been rectified.

Member States may compel the driver to take a daily rest period. Member States shall, where appropriate also withdraw, suspend or restrict an undertaking's licence, if the undertaking is established in that Member State, or withdraw, suspend or restrict a driver's driving licence.

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Comment

New

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Employer/employee...

Employers

1. A transport undertaking shall not give drivers it employs or who are put at its disposal any payment, even in the form of a bonus or wage supplement, related to distances travelled and/or the amount of goods carried if that payment is of such a kind as to endanger road safety and/or encourages infringement of this Regulation.

2. A transport undertaking shall organise the work of drivers referred to in paragraph 1 in such a way that the drivers are able to comply with Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 and Chapter II of this Regulation. The transport undertaking shall properly instruct the driver and shall make regular checks to ensure that Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 and Chapter II of this Regulation are complied with.

3. A transport undertaking shall be liable for infringements committed by drivers of the undertaking, even if the infringement was committed on the territory of another Member State or a third country. Without prejudice to the right of Member States to hold transport undertakings fully liable, Member States may make this liability conditional on the undertaking's infringement of paragraphs 1 and 2. Member States may consider any evidence that the transport undertaking cannot reasonably be held responsible for the infringement committed. 

Comment

Companies are now required to show that they have properly instructed the driver and made regular checks of the drivers records.  If they do not, this Article makes them liable for infringements committed by their drivers.  This liability may be reliant on the fact that the employer has offered inducements or has organised a drivers duties in such a way that the drivers infringes these regulations.

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4. Undertakings, consignors, freight forwarders, tour operators, principal contractors, subcontractors and driver employment  agencies shall ensure that contractually agreed transport time schedules respect this Regulation.

5. (a) A transport undertaking which uses vehicles that are fitted with recording equipment complying with Annex IB of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 and that fall within the scope of this Regulation, shall: 

(i) ensure that all data are downloaded from the vehicle unit and driver card as regularly as is stipulated by the Member State and that relevant data are downloaded more frequently so as to ensure that all data concerning activities undertaken by or for that undertaking are downloaded;

(ii) ensure that all data downloaded from both the vehicle unit and driver card are kept for at least 12 months following recording and, should an inspecting officer request it, such data are accessible, either directly or remotely, from the premises of the undertaking;

(b) for the purposes of this paragraph ‘downloaded’ shall be interpreted in accordance with the definition laid down in Annex IB, Chapter I, point (s) of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85;

(c) the maximum period within which the relevant data shall be downloaded under (a)(i) shall be decided by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 24(2)

The undertaking shall keep record sheets and printouts, whenever printouts have been made to comply with Article 15(1), in chronological order and in a legible form for at least a year after their use and shall give copies to the drivers concerned who request them. The undertaking shall also give copies of downloaded data from the driver cards to the drivers concerned who request them and the printed papers of these copies. The record sheets, printouts and downloaded data shall be produced or handed over at the request of any authorised inspecting officer.’;

Drivers only

A driver who is employed or at the disposal of more than one transport undertaking shall provide sufficient information to each undertaking to enable it to comply with Chapter II.(Driving periods, rest periods and breaks)

The driver shall keep any evidence provided by a Member State concerning penalties imposed or the initiation of proceedings until such time as the same infringement of this Regulation can no longer lead to a second proceeding or penalty pursuant to this Regulation.

The driver shall produce the evidence referred to in paragraph 1 upon request.

Damaged Driver Cards

Where a driver card is damaged, malfunctions, or is not in the possession of the driver, the driver shall: (a) at the start of his journey, print out the details of the vehicle the driver is driving, and shall enter onto that printout:

(i) details that enable the driver to be identified (name, driver card or driver's licence number), including his signature;

(ii) the periods referred to in paragraph 3, second indent (b), (c) and (d); - Crossed Hammers, Box and Rest

(b) at the end of his journey, print out the information relating to periods of time recorded by the recording equipment, record any periods of other work, availability and rest undertaken since the printout that was made at the start of the journey, where not recorded by the tachograph, and mark on that document details that enable the driver to be identified (name, driver card or driver's licence number), including the driver's signature.’,

Records when not with vehicle

‘When as a result of being away from the vehicle, a driver is unable to use the equipment fitted to the vehicle, the periods of time referred to in paragraph 3, second indent (b), (c) and (d) shall:

(a) if the vehicle is fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I, be entered on the record sheet, either manually, by automatic recording or other means, legibly and without dirtying the sheet; or 

(b) if the vehicle is fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex IB, be entered onto the driver card using the manual entry facility provided in the recording equipment.

Where there is more than one driver on board the vehicle fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex IB, each driver shall ensure that his driver card is inserted into the correct slot in the tachograph.’,

“other work” means any activity other than driving, as defined in Article 3(a) of Directive 2002/15/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 on the organisation of the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (*), and also any work for the same or another employer within or outside of the transport sector, and must be recorded under this
sign ;CROSSED HAMMERS
(c) “availability” defined in Article 3(b) of Directive 2002/15/EC must be recorded under this
sign . - BOX

Production of records

Where the driver drives a vehicle fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I, the driver must be able to produce, whenever an inspecting officer so requests: 

the record sheets for the current week and those used by the driver in the previous 15 days;

the driver card if he holds one, and

(iii) any manual record and printout made during the current week and the previous 15 days as required under this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No 561/2006.

However, after 1 January 2008, the time periods referred to under (i) and (iii) shall cover the current day and the previous 28 days.

(b) Where the driver drives a vehicle fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex IB, the driver must be able to produce, whenever an inspecting officer so requests:

(i) the driver card of which he is holder;

(ii) any manual record and printout made during the current week and the previous 15 days as required under this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, and

(iii) the record sheets corresponding to the same period as the one referred to in the previous subparagraph during which he drove a vehicle fitted with recording equipment in conformity with Annex I.

However, after 1 January 2008, the time periods referred to under (ii) shall cover the current day and the previous 28 days. 

(c) An authorised inspecting officer may check compliance with Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 by analysis of the record sheets, of the displayed or printed data which have been recorded by the recording equipment or by the driver card or, failing this, by analysis of any other supporting document that justifies non-compliance with a provision, such as those laid down in Article 16(2) and (3).’

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Duty Rosters

Where no recording equipment has been fitted to the vehicle in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85, paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall apply to:

(a) regular national passenger services, and (b) regular international passenger services whose route terminals are located within a distance of 50 km as the crow flies from a border between two Member States and whose route length does not exceed 100 km. 2.

A service timetable and a duty roster shall be drawn up by the transport undertaking and shall show, in respect of each driver, the name, place where he is based and the schedule laid down in advance for various periods of driving, other work, breaks and availability.

Each driver assigned to a service referred to in paragraph 1 shall carry an extract from the duty roster and a copy of the service timetable.

3. The duty roster shall:
(a) include all the particulars specified in paragraph 2 for a minimum period covering the previous 28 days; these particulars must be updated on regular intervals, the duration of which may not exceed one month;

(b) be signed by the head of the transport undertaking or by a person authorised to represent him; (c) be kept by the transport undertaking for one year after expiry of the period covered by it. The transport undertaking shall give an extract from the roster to the drivers concerned upon request; and

(d) be produced and handed over at the request of an authorised inspecting officer.

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Speed Limits... 

These are speed limits for roads where there is no specific speed limit for the vehicle as above