EU driving hours explained
Drivers Hours Regulations taken from (Regulation(EC) 561/2006) introduced on the 11th April 2007
Daily Driving Limit
Maximum 9 hours driving per day
Twice a week this can be extended to a maximum of 10 hours per day
A day is classed as the period that begins at the end of the previous Daily or Weekly rest, and ends at the start of the following Daily rest.
Remember, if you go over your 9 hour maximum by as little as one minute that is one of your two 10 hour extended days used!
Weekly Driving Limit
No more than 56 hours in one week
A week is the period from 00:00 Monday to 24:00 the following Sunday.
The weekly limit is further limited by the driving hours from the previous week (see Two Week Driving Limit) and extends under the same regulations to limit the following weeks driving hours.
This limit is mostly self regulating as 56 hours is (4x9 Hours) + (2x10 Hours), the daily driving limits! Though, as the Weekly Driving Limit is calculated across a calendar week, if you work across weekends and take a weekly rest mid-week you could fall foul due to bunched up 10 Hour driving periods.
Two Week Driving Limit
No more than 90 hours in any two consecutive weeks
The most important thing here is to remember this is any two consecutive weeks, which means that what you do this week is limited by what you did last week and following on from that, what you do this week will limit what you can do next week!
A fortnight is defined as the period between 00:00 Monday and 24:00 Sunday, 2 weeks later! Therefore, if you regularly work across weekends or your first day out is a Sunday, your Weekly/Two Week driving limits can not simply be calculated from your working week, they need to be calculated on a calendar week!
Rest & Breaks (Rest from Driving)
45 Minutes break must be taken following no more than 4 Hours 30 minutes driving.
This break may be taken in two parts, the first at least 15 minutes and the second at least 30 minutes.
An important feature of Breaks is 'Wiping the Slate Clean', which means that once you have completed a 45 minute break (in the required way i.e. 45 minutes or 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes), the next 4 hour 30 minute driving period begins, regardless of whether the previous 4 hour 30 minute driving period has been completed.
Drivers often come unstuck here as a result of using the 'rest' mode on the tachograph at all possible oppurtunities without monitoring the time during each period.
Daily rest
An unbroken 11 Hour rest within the 24 hour period that commences at the end of the last daily/weekly rest period.
Three times per week (a week being the period between two weekly rest breaks), Reduced Daily Rest can be taken of at least 9 Hours.
A period of daily rest is classified as a period which the driver can dispose of his time as he wishes.
A common mistake with this legislation is not to take take the required break within the 24 Hour reference period. In other words, if you start your working day at 6am, by 6am the following morning you must have completed a minimum of 11 hours continuous rest (or 9 hours if you are taking advantage of one of your three reduced daily rests).
To look at this in another way, if you are taking a normal daily rest (11 hours) you can only work a maximum of 13 hours and then complete your 11 hour rest period.
Reductions in Daily Rest are not required to be compensated for.
Split Daily Rest
A 12 Hour daily rest period can be split into two, the first being no less than 3 Hours, the second no less than 9 (This does not class as a Reduced Daily Rest).
This allows a driver to split a Regular Daily Rest, though a total of 12 hours must be taken within the 24 hour reference period.
The first, minimum 3 hour rest period, that would be taken during the working day must be continuous (unbroken), as must the final 9 hour period.
Weekly Rest
Within 6 days of the end of a weekly rest period a driver must take 45 hours continuous Regular Weekly Rest.
A Reduced Weekly Rest of 24 Hours may be taken, but must be compensated for before the end of the third week following the rest.
Any two consecutive calendar weeks must contain at least one 45 Hour Regular Weekly Rest.
The definition of a Weekly Rest period is one in which the driver can dispose of their time as they wish.
The Calendar week definition is important as it means that potentially a driver can take two consecutive Reduced weekly rests as long as they are both in the same calendar week (Mon 00:00 to Sun 24:00).
Further to the above, a Weekly Rest period that crosses two calendar weeks can be counted in either, though not in both. Unless, a minimum of 69 hours rest is taken with a minimum of 24 hours in one week and 45 hours in the other.
Ferry Crossing / Transport by Train
During a Ferry Crossing / Transport by Train, a Full Daily Rest Period of 11 Hours can be interrupted twice for a total of no more than 1 Hour.
This ruling means that a ferry crossing of less than 11 hours can be used as part of a Full Daily rest with half an hour being allowed for driving onto and driving off of the Ferry. A sleeping area must be available at all times throughout the Rest period.
Multi-Manning
All of the drivers hours regulations apply, except:
Within 30 Hours of the end of a Rest Period, a Daily Rest of at least 9 Hours must be taken.
In effect this rule means that two drivers in one vehicle can work up to 21 hours then take a 9 hour Daily Rest. Importantly, all other driving and rest break rules apply.
Additional requirements are that the second driver must join the vehicle within one hour of the first driver starting his shift. Also, Breaks can be taken as a passenger in a moving vehicle but Daily Rest can not.
Working Time Directive
To be used in conjunction with the EU Drivers Hours Regulations, the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 (aka The Working Time Directive) aims to control the actual hours worked and to bring drivers into line with the 48 Hour Working Week.
Once again, this information is intended to make the regulations more digestable and should be used as a guideline. For the full regulations see Annex 2 of the VOSA Drivers Hours Guidance.
The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 State:
Breaks:
(1) No mobile worker shall work for more than six hours without a break.
(2) Where a mobile worker’s working time exceeds six hours but does not exceed nine hours, the worker shall be entitled to a break lasting at least 30 minutes and interrupting that time.
(3) Where a mobile worker’s working time exceeds nine hours, the worker shall be entitled to a break lasting at least 45 minutes and interrupting that period.
(4) Each break may be made up of separate periods of not less than 15 minutes each.
(5) An employer shall take all reasonable steps, in keeping with the need to protect the health and safety of the mobile worker, to ensure that the limits specified above are complied with in the case of each mobile worker employed by him.
Not everyone gets to 4.5 hours driving time in six hours work but if they do then the tachograph break will cover the WTD for the next 6 hours of work. If you get to 6 hours first then the 15 minute WTD break will also cover the first part of a split break for the tachograph regulations.
Break and POA are treated exactly the same way for the WTD regulations. Neither of them count as other work so leaving it on one or the other makes no difference to the WTD and it wouldn't mess up the WTD.
Keeping Records
Your employer must keep accurate working time records for a period of two years. Your employer should provide you with a method of recording your working time. This might be a time sheet or by using the recorded data from the tachograph. If you work for more than one employer you must inform your employers in writing of who else you work for and the working time you do for each of them.
While employers have responsibility for maintaining accurate working time records, mobile workers are equally responsible for compliance with the Regulations. Mobile workers can be prosecuted for knowingly committing breaches including neglecting to inform employers about work undertaken for any other employer or knowingly making a false record.
Weekly Working Time
Drivers must not exceed an AVERAGE of 48 Hours per week. A maximum of 60 Hours can be worked in a single week.
Night Work
If a drivers shift enters any part of the period betweem 00:00 and 04:00 Hours, they are classed as night workers and their working time must not exceed 10 Hours. It is possible to 'opt-out' of the Night Work regulation under a collective/workforce agreement.
Reference Period
Working time can be averaged out over 17 weeks. Following a collective/workforce agreement the working time can be averaged over 26 weeks.
The maximum driving time permitted in a week (00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday) is 56 hours.
The maximum driving time permitted in any two consecutive weeks is 90 hours
The maximum permitted working time in a week for the RT(WT)R is 60 hours.
The 90 hour fortnight limit is for any adjoining 2 weeks.
So you need to know you have enough hours left over from the PREVIOUS week to use THIS week AND then how many hours you drive THIS week will tell you how many you can use NEXT week.
Many drivers spend some of their time driving under one set of rules and some under another set, perhaps even on the same day, which can prove confusing. With the exception of EU hours rules, the other two (GB Domestic and Mixed EU/AETR Rules and GB domestic driving) have some variations. If you work partly under EU rules and partly under GB domestic rules during a day or a week, the following points must be considered:
The time you spend driving under EU rules cannot count as an off-duty period under GB domestic rules.
Driving and other duty under GB domestic rules (including non-driving work in another employment) count as attendance at work but not as a break or rest period under the EU rules.
Driving under EU rules counts towards the driving and duty limits under GB domestic rules.
Any driving under EU rules in a week means that you must take a daily rest period on those days when you actually drive under EU rules, as well as a weekly rest period.
Driving limits
GB domestic limit (a maximum of 10 hours of driving a day) must always be obeyed. But at any time when you are actually driving under the EU rules you must obey all the rules on EU driving limits.
Other duty limits
GB domestic limit (i.e. no more than 11 hours on duty) must always be obeyed. But when working under EU rules you must also obey all the rules on breaks, daily rest (only on those days when actually driving) and weekly rest.
Rest periods and breaks Again, you must always obey the EU rules on rest periods and breaks on days and weeks in which driving in scope of EU rules is carried out.
A weekly rest period is not required in a fixed week where a driver does not drive under EU rules. Where a driver works under EU rules in one week and under GB domestic rules in the following week, the driver may take either a regular or a reduced weekly rest in the first week. If the driver takes a reduced weekly rest, compensation will be required by the end of the third week following the week in question. If this working pattern continues, the driver may take either a regular or reduced weekly rest period every other week.
Where a driver works under GB domestic rules in week one and the EU rules in the second week, the weekly rest required in week two must start no later than 144 hours following the commencement of duty on or after 00.00 hours on Monday.
Records
During a week in which the in-scope driving has taken place, any previous work (including out-of-scope driving in that week) would have to be recorded as 'other work' on a tachograph chart, printout or a manual entry using the manual input facility of a digital tachograph, or a legally required GB domestic record on a log book.
When driving a vehicle subject to EU or AETR rules, a driver is required to produce on request tachograph records (including other work records described above) for the current week and the previous 28 calendar days when he has driven in scope of the EU/AETR rules in the relevant week.