Depending on the vehicle being driven, there are different regulations for drivers. There are certain rules that only for vehicles used for the carriage of goods. This carriage of goods includes any journey that is entirely or partly on roads that are open to the general public. Once you have a c+e licence, the next thing you’ll need to do is learn these rules to keep yourself safe.
Most large goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes fall under the EU Driver Hours Rules. The drivers of LGVs will have a tachograph in their cab that tracks hours. The rules have set limits for daily, weekly and fortnightly driving with a minimum break time for drivers. This is during the workday as well as daily and weekly rest times. These drivers also fall under the Working Time Regulations.
To better understand these rules, it is important to know the definitions per the 2006 Regulations. These regulations derive a driver as anyone who drives a vehicle and is carried on the vehicle in order to drive.
Driving Time
The scope of the EU rules will cover anyone who drives during the day and will cover the entire day regardless of the amount of time spent driving. This means that the driver will have to comply with the daily driving limits as well as the break and rest requirements. They will also need to meet the weekly rest requirements.
Daily Breaks
Under these rules, after 4.5 hours of driving, the driver must take a break that lasts 45 minutes and is uninterrupted. The only exception is when they take a rest period. During the break, they will not be able to complete any other driving work.
Other work instead of driving is excluded from this. If a driver drives for 2.5 hours, does other work for an hour, then drives a further 2.5 hours, they will have to take a 45-minute break. This means that a driver can drive for 2-hours, take a 15-minute break then drive another 2.5 hours and have a 30-minute break. After this 45-minute break period, the next 4.5 hours of driving will start. It is important to note that there are other regulations for professional drivers who are members of the Territorial Army.
Daily Driving Time
A driver can drive a maximum of nine hours in a day. This means you can drive for 4.5 hours, take the 45-minute break and then drive another 4.5 hours. This limit can be increased to 10 hours twice each week.
The daily driving time will be the total amount of driving accumulated between the end of a rest period and the start of the next daily rest period. It can also be the accumulated time between a daily rest period and a weekly rest period.
The Weekly Driving Limit
In a fixed week, the driving limit is 56 hours. This is four 9-hour days and two 10-hour days for a total of 56 hours. The fixed week starts on midnight Monday and will end a week later.
The Rest Periods
A daily rest period must be taken by a driver within a period of 24-hours. The rest has to be uninterrupted. Any time spent on other employment, including self-employed work, does not count as rest time. The minimum daily rest period is 11 hours, and is considered a regular daily rest period.
It is possible to split this regular rest period into two smaller periods. When this is done the first period must be at least 3-hours of uninterrupted rest and can occur at any time of the day. The second period has to be at least 9 hours and will need to be uninterrupted.