Driver info

New Drivers Hours Rules

What has changed and what will change between now and 2008.

The European Parliament and the European Council finally agreed on a package of replacement European legislation, allegedly designed to make the regulations easier to understand and interpret, improve driving times and rest periods for professional drivers and ensure additional enforcement of regulations on drivers of commercial vehicles operating within the European Union.

It is hoped that the new rules contained within this package will eventually bring the practices of the existing 25 EU Member States closer together and thereby contribute to better road safety for all.

After years of discussions between all interested parties, including the Road Haulage Association, redrafts with many amendments to the original proposals were agreed upon and the final text published, specifically designed to complement the Road Transport (WTD) Regulations 2005 and to strengthen the package of rules governing the road transport sector.

Member States are still free to apply their own rules, in the case of road transport carried out entirely within their own territory, but they can no longer fall short of the minimum rules laid down in the European legislation.

This amounts to a major social advance in some Euro-states and will hopefully serve to prevent social dumping.

Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 - Drivers’ Hours

On Tuesday 11th April 2006 the Official Journal of the European Union was published containing the new social package for road transport.

The package contained Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, which is intended to simplify, clarify and update the existing 20-year old rules governing drivers’ hours through the introduction of the digital tachograph and several other changes to existing rules and regulations.

Regulation (EC) No 3820/85 has now been repealed and replaced by this new Regulation: 561/2006.

Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 has been amended to clarify specific obligations on transport undertakings and drivers, as well as confirming the official date for mandatory fitment of the digital tachograph vehicle units - 1st May 2006.

Regulation (EC) No 2135/98 has been amended to enable the activities of a driver over a 28-day period to be recorded electronically on his/her driver smart card and electronic records of vehicle operations to cover a 365-day period to be recorded.

This new regulation includes changes in the following areas:

Weekly driving time limit of 56 hours will be the maximum permitted, which has not been specified before - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.
Accumulated driving time during any two consecutive weeks shall not exceed 90 hours.

Currently this is referred to as in “any one fortnight” - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.

Breaks from driving will need to be taken more frequently. It is currently acceptable to take breaks in three periods of 15 minutes before accumulating 4½ hours driving time. This meant that it has been legally possible to drive almost 9 hours with only 15 minutes rest. A 15 minute break will still be permitted, but this must be followed by a break of at least 30 minutes before 4½ hours driving time has been completed - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.
Daily rest (Split Rest) can currently be split into three periods, the smallest of which must be no less than one hour, the largest no less than 8 hours, the total required being 12 hours. Under thenew regulation, minimum daily rest remains at 9 hours; regular daily rest remains at 11 hours, but split rest can only be taken in two periods of 3 and 9 hours respectively. This means the lossof the one hour rest period.

Compensation for reduced rest will no longer be required - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.

Weekly rest rules will change, The option to reduce to 36 hours will be removed.

In any two consecutive weeks a driver will be able to take either two (regular) rests of 45 hours or one regular rest and one reduced rest of no less than 24 hours, irrespective of location.

Compensation will still be required, as in the current rules - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.

Multi-manning currently requires at least two drivers to be with a vehicle during the whole period of driving and during each period of 30 hours each driver must have a rest period of not less than 8 hours.

The new regulation changes the requirements above and permits the vehicle to be driven for the first hour without any additional driver present, It also increases the minimum daily rest requirement to 9 hours - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.

Ferry crossings currently allow rest periods to be interrupted once, provided part of the rest is taken on land, the interruption is no longer than one hour and the total rest period is increased by two hours as compensation. The new regulation permits a daily rest period of at least 11 hours to be interrupted, not more than twice and not more than one hour in total, with no requirement to take additional rest in compensation for the interruption - to be implemented from 11th April 2007.
Enforcement across borders: Up until now, enforcing officers could only sanction against those infringements committed in their own territory, or at very best by their own nationals abroad, which is often difficult to prosecute. In future, no matter where the infringement is committed, an inspector at a roadside check can sanction and prosecute – to be actioned by April 2007.
Responsibilities of the whole transport chain: the new regulation recognises that operators can often be put under undue pressure, particularly by consignors and freight forwarders, to agree to impossible schedules that cause them to infringe the rules. and thus introduces a responsibility of consignors to ensure the regulations are adhered to. The provision is already in the sectoral working time directive; the Road Transport (WTD) Regulation 2005, and will be extended to all relevant Community rules – to be actioned by April 2007.
Driver Records changes IMPLEMENTED from 1st May 2006: Record sheets and printouts, whenever printouts have been made, will have to be kept in chronological order and in a legible form for at least a year.

Although electronic downloading of data and storage of printouts will not immediately affect operators that do not have vehicles fitted with digital tachographs within their fleet, this additional administration procedure will eventually become an integral part of the record keeping obligation of all operators and their drivers.

Where a driver smart card has been issued to a driver by DVLA and it has become damaged, malfunctions, or is not in the possession of the driver (i.e. lost), the following procedure must be followed.

At the start of his/her journey, a printout must be produced showing the details of the vehicle the driver is driving, and he/she should manually enter onto that printout:

details that enable the driver to be identified (name, driver card or driver’s licence number) including his/her signature;
operate the digital tachograph vehicle unit to ensure that all different types of work and rest periods taken are being recorded throughout the working period;
at the end of the working period, produce another printout showing the information relating to periods of time recorded by the recording equipment.

Then record any other periods of work, availability and rest undertaken since the printout that was made at the start of the journey, where not recorded by the digital tachograph vehicle unit, 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.

Drivers must also ensure that they are using the correct mode to record their activities, as “availability” must now be recorded separately from “other work” (see page 2).

Furthermore, from 1st May 2006, drivers’ must now be able to produce for examination by an inspecting officer the record sheets for the current week and the previous 15 days, irrespective of what type of recording equipment is being operated.

From 1st January 2008 this requirement is extended to the production of the current record and the previous 28 days.

Courtesy of RHA.net