HGV & LGV Driving Hours

HGV & LGV Driving Hours

This week, we will be focusing on the rules whilst drive an LGV / HGV truck & go into a bit more details on the breaks legally in place.

So, there are three different type of rules that could apply to you;

1. EU Rules
2. AETR Rules
3. GB Domestic Rules

The rule that applies to your own situation will depend on the type of vehicle you are driving, the reason for driving the truck & the country you are driving in.

EU Rules

With EU rules mainly they are as followed that you cannot drive more than:

1. Nine hours in a day – this can be extended to ten hours twice per week
2. Fifty-six hours in a week
3. Ninety hours in any 2 consecutive weeks

With all the driving you do under the EU rules you need to record them under a digital tachograph.

Breaks and Rest

The main points of EU rules on breaks & rest are that you must take:

1. at least eleven hours rest every day – you can reduce this to nine hours rest three times between any two weekly rest periods
2. an unbroken rest period of forty-five hours every week – you can reduce this to twenty-four hours every other week
3. a break or breaks totalling at least forty-five minutes after no more than four hours thirty minutes driving
4. your weekly rest after 6 consecutive twenty-four-hour periods of working, starting from the end of the last weekly rest period taken

Coach drivers on an international trip can take their weekly rest after twelve consecutive twenty-four-hour periods, starting from the end of the last weekly rest period taken.

AETR Rules

The European Agreement Concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport (AETR) rules is now the same as the EU rules on drivers’ hours.

The following countries are covered by the AETR rules:

1. Albania
2. Andorra
3. Armenia
4. Azerbaijan
5. Belarus
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina
7. Kazakhstan
8. Liechtenstein
9. Macedonia
10. Monaco
11. Moldova
12. Russia
13. San Marino
14. Serbia and Montenegro
15. Turkey
16. Turkmenistan
17. Ukraine
18. Uzbekistan

GB domestic rules

The GB domestic drivers’ hours’ rules apply to most passenger-carrying vehicles and goods vehicles that don’t have to follow the EU rules.

GB domestic rules apply in Great Britain & there are separate rules in N. Ireland

If you work as a driver for a company, duty time is any working time. If you’re self-employed, duty time is the only time you spend driving the vehicle or doing other work related to the vehicle or its load.

Daily driving limit

You must not drive for more than ten hours in a day:

• on a public road
• off-road if not during duty time

Off-road driving counts as duty time if it’s for:

• agriculture
• quarrying
• forestry
• building work
• civil engineering

Daily duty limit

You must not be on duty for more than eleven hours on any working day. This limit doesn’t apply on any working day when you don’t drive.

Again all of your hours must be recorded weekly on a sheet or on a tachograph.

Passenger-carrying vehicles

Duty time

If you work as a driver for a company, duty time is any working time. If you’re self-employed, duty time is the only time you spend driving the vehicle or doing other work related to the vehicle or its load.

Breaks and continuous driving

After five hours thirty minutes of driving you must take a break of at least thirty minutes for rest and refreshment.

Or, within any period of eight hours thirty minutes, you must take at least forty-five minutes in breaks. You must also have a break of at least thirty minutes at the end of this period unless it’s the end of the working day.

Length of working day (‘spread over’)

You must not work more than sixteen hours between the times of starting and finishing work – including non-driving work and any times when you’re off.

Daily rest periods

You must take a rest of ten hours before the first duty and immediately after the last duty in a working week.

You must take a rest of at least ten hours between two working days (or spread overs) – this can be reduced to 8.5 hours up to three times a week.

All duties must start and finish within a twenty-four-hour period.

Fortnightly rest periods

Every 2 weeks you must take at least one period of Twenty-four hours off duty.