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Which rules to follow....EC Hours Rules....Exemptions to EC Rules....Prosecutions & Defences....British Hours Rules |
WHICH HOURS RULES TO FOLLOWDrivers of goods and passenger vehicles must normally comply with the requirements of the EC law contained in EC Regulation 3820/85. There are many exemptions from this Regulation and they are listed on this site. A driver who comes within one of them is automatically subject to the British hours' law. The British hours' law is contained in Section 96 of the Transport Act 1968 which has been modified several times for both goods and passenger vehicles. It also provides exemptions in a limited number of cases. Drivers on international journeys which involve driving a vehicle in a country outside the Community, but which is a contracting party to the European Agreement on the Work of Crews of Vehicles engaged in International Transport (AETR), must comply with the hours' rules of that agreement for the whole of the journey-including that part in the UK. The AETR rules are now virtually the same as the EC rules. If a vehicle is driven in a country which is neither in the European Union nor in AETR, such as Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, the driver must comply with that country's rules while there and, according to the other countries involved, the EC or AETR rules when outside that country. |
The EC hours law is contained in EC regulation 3820/85 and it applies to carriage by road within the community. This is defined as any journey made on roads open to the public of a vehicle, whether laden or used for the carriage of passengers or goods.
Vehicles are motor vehicles, tractors, trailers and semi trailers. A motor vehicle is "any mechanically self propelled vehicle circulating on the road, other than a vehicle running on rails, and normally used for carrying passengers or goods".
A tractor is a mechanically propelled vehicle circulating on the road, other than on rails, and specially designed to pull, push or move trailers, semi-trailers, implements or machines. A trailer is any vehicle designed to be coupled to a motor vehicle or a tractor. Notice that a trailer can be any kind of trailer and is not confined to goods-carrying trailers. A semi-trailer is a trailer, without a front axle, coupled in such a way that a substantial part of its weight and the weight of its load is borne by the tractor or motor vehicle. A driver is any person who drives the vehicle even for a short period or who is carried in the vehicle to be available for driving if necessary.
The daily driving period between any two daily rest periods or between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period, must not exceed nine hours, but twice a week it can be extended to 10 hours.
After not more than six daily driving periods, a driver must take a weekly rest period unless, at the end of the sixth day, his total driving for the six days does not exceed the maximum possible in six daily driving periods.
On national and international passenger services, which are not regular services, the above reference to six days should be read as 12 days.
The total period of driving in any fortnight must not exceed 90 hours. No limit is specified for weekly driving.
A week commences at 00:00hrs on a Monday and ends at 24.00hrs on the following Sunday.
After four and a half hours driving a driver must have a break of at least 45 minutes unless he is then beginning a daily rest period.
The 45-minute break can be replaced by breaks of at least 15 minutes each spread out over the driving period, or immediately after it so that the above requirement is complied with.
The European Court has ruled (1) where a driver has taken a 45-minute break, either as a single break or several breaks of at least 15 minutes during, or at the end of, a four and a half hour period, the calculation of four and a half hours' driving should begin afresh without taking into account the driving time and breaks previously completed by the driver and (2) the calculation of the four and a half hours begins at the moment the driver sets in motion the tachograph equipment and he begins driving.
During a break a driver must not carry out any other work, but waiting time and non driving time spent in a moving vehicle, on a ferry or train is not regarded as other work.
If a passenger vehicle driver on a regular national service in a designated area takes a break of at least 30 minutes after not more than 4 hours driving and it was not possible for him during that period of driving to have taken a break of at least 15 minutes, that period of driving will be disregarded for the purpose of the four and a half hour break rule. The designated areas are the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster and specified areas of Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Nottingham and Oxford.
In each period of 24 hours a driver must have a daily rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours. It may be reduced to 9 hours not more than three times a week as long as the lost rest is compensated for before the end of the following week.
A rest is defined as any uninterrupted period of at least one hour during which the driver may freely dispose of his time.
On days when the daily rest period in not reduced it can be taken in two or three separate periods within the 24 hours. One of them must be at least eight consecutive hours and when a daily rest is broken in this way it must be increased to 12 hours.
If a vehicle is manned by two drivers, each driver must have a daily rest period of 8 consecutive hours within a 30 hour period.
The EC court has ruled that the period of 24 hours commences at the time the driver activates his tachograph following a weekly or daily rest period and, where the rest is taken in two or three separate periods, the calculation begins at the end of the eight hour period.
A daily rest period may be taken inside a vehicle if it is fitted with a bunk and is stationary.
If a driver accompanies a vehicle which is carried be ferry or train, the daily rest period may be interrupted once on condition that:
During each week, one of the daily rest periods must be extended into a weekly rest period of 45 consecutive hours but it may be reduced to 36 hours, if taken at the place where the vehicle or driver is normally based, or to 24 hours if taken elsewhere.
When a weekly rest period shorter than 45 hours is taken, the reduction must be compensated for en bloc before the end of the third week following the week concerned.
A weekly rest period which begins in one week and continues into the following week may be attached to either of those weeks.
Where drivers on passenger services are allowed 12 days between weekly rest periods, that period may be postponed until the week following that in which it is due and added to that second week's rest.
Rest taken to compensate for reduced daily or weekly rest periods must be attached to a rest period of at least eight hours and must be granted, at the driver's request, at the vehicle's or driver's base.
Payments to wage-earning drivers, even in the form of bonuses or wage supplements, related to distances travelled and/or the amount of goods carried are prohibited, unless the payments are of such a kind as not to endanger road safety.
Provided road safety is not jeopardised and to enable him to reach a suitable stopping place, a driver may depart from the EC Regulation to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of persons, the vehicle or its load. The nature of and reason for the departure must be recorded by the driver on his tachograph record or in his duty roster.
The EC Court has ruled that this provision does not authorise a driver to depart from the hours' requirements for reasons known before the journey commenced, eg finding a secure place to park.
A transport undertaking has to organise drivers' work so that they are able to comply with the hours and tachograph law.
It must make periodic checks to ensure that both hours and tachograph rules have been complied with. If contraventions are found the undertaking has to take 'appropriate steps' to prevent their repetition.
Except where a tachograph is fitted and used in a vehicle, a bus operator must draw up a service timetable and duty roster for (a) regular national passenger services, and (b) regular international passenger services not over 100km and which have terminals within 50km of a frontier between two Member States which, in either case, are subject to the EC hours' law.
A driver on such a service must carry an extract from the duty roster and a copy of the service timetable.
The undertaking must preserve the duty roster for at least 12 months and give an extract from it to the drivers concerned who request it.
PROSECUTIONS & DEFENCESIf there is a contravention in Great Britain of (i) the British hours' law, or (ii) the EC rules (including the AETR rules where appropriate) relating to periods of driving, distance driven, or periods on or off duty, the driver and any other person, being his employer or person to whose orders he was subject, who caused or permitted the contravention commits an offence. But it is a defence for a person to prove that the contravention was due to unavoidable delay in completing a journey arising from circumstances which he could not reasonably have foreseen. The High Court ruled that the unforeseen circumstances must be the cause of the delay when it decided that though a vehicle had a puncture on an outward journey the delay was caused by stops made by the driver on the return journey. It is also a defence for an employer, or other person to whose orders the driver was subject, to prove that the contravention was due to the driver being on duty otherwise than in his employment and he was not, and could not reasonably have become, aware of that fact. A court has jurisdiction to deal with an hours' offence which was committed in its court area. it also has jurisdiction, under Section 103(7) of the Transport Act, to deal with an hours' offence as if it had been committed at the place: a. where the driver was driving when evidence of the offence first came to the attention of police or an examiner. b. where the defendant resides, or is believed to reside or be, at the time proceedings are commenced c. where the defendant, his employer or, in the case of an owner-driver, the person for whom he was driving, has his principal place of business or his operating centre for the vehicle involved. |
1. Goods vehicles with a permissible maximum weight, including any trailer, not over 3.5 tonnes
2. Passenger vehicles constructed and equipped for carrying not more than nine persons including the driver
3. Passenger vehicles on regular services where the route covered is not over 50km. The EC Court has said that a coach carrying tourists from a hotel to an airport and other tourists from the airport to a hotel via tourist attractions was not a regular service.
4. Vehicles with a maximum authorised speed not over 30km/h
5. Vehicles used or controlled by the armed forces, civil defence, fire service and forces responsible for maintaining public order
6. Vehicles used in connection with sewage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity services, highway maintenance and control, refuse collection and disposal, telegraph and telephone services, carriage of postal articles, radio and television broadcasting, and the detection of radio or television transmitters or receivers. The High Court has said that this exemption is open to wide interpretation and is open to private contractors as well as local authorities. The EC Court has ruled that refuse collection and disposal covers the collection of waste of all kinds which is not subject to more specific rules and for the transport of such waste over short distances, within the context of a general service in the public interest provided by public authorities or by private undertakings under their control. The High Court has ruled that a lorry carrying a road making machine and a lorry carrying a road planing machine were not being used in connection with highway maintenance. It said a strict interpretation must be given to these exemptions.
7. Vehicles used in emergencies or rescue operations
8. Specialised vehicles used for medical purposes
9. Vehicles transporting circus and fun-fair equipment
10. Specialised breakdown vehicles. The EC Court has ruled that a specialised breakdown vehicle is a vehicle whose construction, fitments and other permanent characteristics are such that it will be used mainly for removing vehicles that have recently been involved in an accident or have broken down for another reason
11. Vehicles undergoing road tests for technical development, repair or maintenance purposes, and new or re-built vehicles not yet put into service
12. Vehicles used for non-commercial carriage of goods for personal use
13. Vehicles used for milk collection from farms and the return to farms of milk containers or milk products intended for animal feed.
1. Any vehicle used for the carriage of passengers which, by its construction and equipment, is suitable for carrying not more than 17 persons including the driver
2. A vehicle used by a public authority to provide public services otherwise than in competition with professional road hauliers. A vehicle is not within this paragraph unless it is being used by:
3.A vehicle used by agricultural, horticultural, forestry or fishery undertakings to carry goods within a 50km radius of the vehicle's normal base, including local administrative areas the centres of which are within that radius. A vehicle used by a fishery does not come within this exemption unless it is used to carry (a) live fish or (b) fish from its landing place to a place where it is to be processed
4. A vehicle used to carry animal waste or carcasses which are not intended for human consumption
5. A vehicle used to carry live animals between a farm and a local market or from a market to a local slaughterhouse. The EC Court has ruled that 'local market' means the market which, having regard to geographical circumstances, is the nearest to a particular farm and at which it is possible to buy or sell according to the needs of the normal, average-sized farms which may be considered typical of the area in question
6. A vehicle used-
and, in each case, specially fitted for such use. The EC Court has ruled that a specialised vehicle is one whose construction, fitments or other permanent characteristics guaranteed that it was used primarily for the listed operations. It also sold that door-to-door selling could include calls on potential wholesale customers such as shops, works canteens, old people homes and supermarkets
7. A goods vehicle, with a permissible maximum weight not over 7.5 tonnes, carrying material or equipment for the driver's use in the course of his work within a 50km radius of the vehicle's normal base, but not if driving it constitutes his main activity. The High Court has ruled that fruit and vegetables carried by a greengrocer from a wholesale market to a retail market were not 'material' for the driver's own use
8. A vehicle operating exclusively on an Island not over 2,300 square kilometers in area and not linked to the rest of Great Britain by a bridge, ford or tunnel open for use by motor vehicles
9. A goods vehicle with a permissible maximum weight not over 7.5 tonnes propelled by gas produced on the vehicle or by electricity
10. A vehicle being used for driving instruction with a view to obtaining a driving licence, but not if carrying goods for hire or reward or in connection with a trade or business
11. A tractor used exclusively for agricultural and forestry work
12. A vehicles used by RNLI for hauling lifeboats
13. A vehicle made before January 1, 1947
14. Any steam-propelled vehicle
15. A passenger vehicle over 25 years old, not carrying more than nine persons including the driver, not used for profit and being driven in, to or from a vintage rally, to or from a museum or display, or to or from repair, maintenance or testing
BRITISH HOURS LAWApplication: goods and passenger vehicles exempt from the EC law. Goods vehicles are (a) locomotives, motor tractors and articulated tractor units and (b) motor vehicles constructed or adapted to carry goods other than the effects of passengers. Passenger vehicles are (a) public service vehicles and (b) other motor vehicles constructed or adapted to carry more than 12 passengers. Goods VehiclesIf, on a working day, most of the time a driver spends in driving vehicles to which the British hours' law applies is spent n driving goods vehicles, he must not drive for more than 10 hours and the working day must not exceed 11 hours. A working day is
A driver is not required to take breaks from driving or to take daily or weekly rest periods. If, on a working day, a driver does not drive a vehicle to which the British hours' law applies, he is not subject to the working-day limit on that day. If a driver does not drive for more than four hours on each calendar day of a working week (Monday to Sunday inclusive) he is exempt from the hours' law for the whole of that week. In counting the above 10 hour and four hour driving periods no account is to be taken of driving a vehicle in the course of agricultural or forestry operations not on a road. Also excluded is off-road driving in quarrying, construction, reconstruction, alteration, extension or maintenance of a building or other fixed works of construction or civil engineering, including the construction, maintenance or improvement of roads. Time spent driving in connection with the improvement or maintenance of a road is regarded as if it were spent off the road. If a driver, in a working week, spends all of his driving time (apart from social, domestic and pleasure driving) which is subject to the British hours' law in driving a light goods vehicle... a. solely in connection with specified medical professions b. mainly in connection with carrying out any service of inspection, cleaning, maintenance, repair, installation or fitting c. solely while acting as a commercial traveller and the only goods carried are those for soliciting orders; or d. solely in connection with cinematography, radio or television broadcasting ... he is exempt from the 11 hour limit on a working day which falls wholly within that week. A light goods vehicle is a goods vehicle not over 3.5 tonnes permissible maximum weight (including any trailer) or a dual-purpose vehicle. Emergency workA driver who spends time on duty to deal with an emergency is exempt from driving and working-day limits on that day as long as he is not on duty (except to deal with an emergency) for more than 11 hours. Emergencies, for goods vehicle drivers, are 1. events which cause or are likely to cause such
Passenger vehiclesDriving time must not exceed 10 hours in a working day. A rest break must be taken after five and a half hours' driving but the break need not be taken if, in any continuous period of eight and a half hours, a driver does not drive for more than a total of seven and three quarter hours and the last of his driving periods marks either the end of the working day or the start of a 30-minute break. The working day must not exceed 16 hours. A daily rest period of 10 hours must be taken between two successive working days but three times in a week it can be reduced to eight and a half hours. A 24 hour weekly rest period must be taken in any period of two successive working weeks. A working day is the total period of time a driver is on duty, together with breaks between on-duty periods, until a daily rest period is taken. If a driver does not drive vehicles to which the British hours' law applies for more than four hours on more than two calendar days of a working week (and on those two days he complies with the above hours' rules), he is exempt from the driving time, rest break, working-day limit and daily rest period requirements on the other days of that week. If this concession applies to two successive working weeks the weekly rest period requirement does not apply to those weeks. The working-day limit does not apply on a working day when a driver does not drive a vehicle to which the British hours' law applies. Emergency workTime spent on emergency work by a driver is deemed not to be driving time for the purposes of the 10 hour limit on daily driving and, for other purposes, to have been time spent off duty. Emergencies, for passenger vehicle drivers, are 1. events which cause or are likely to cause such
2. events which are likely to cause such serious damage to property, as to necessitate taking immediate action to prevent the occurrence or continuation of such danger, interruption or damage. |