How the drivers’ hours rules work when you are driving a passenger-carrying vehicle under a mix of the EU and GB domestic rules.
General principles
Many drivers spend some of their time driving under one set of rules and some under another set, perhaps even on the same day.
When working partly under EU/ AETR rules and partly under GB domestic rules during a day or a week, the following points must be considered (the EU rules take precedence over the GB domestic rules):
Driving limits
The GB domestic limit (a maximum of 10 hours of driving a day) must always be obeyed. However, at any time when actually driving under the EU/ AETR all the rules on EU/ AETR driving limits must be obeyed.
Duty limits
The GB domestic limit (no more than 16 hours on duty between starting and finishing including work other than driving and off-duty periods during the working day) must always be obeyed. But when any EU/ AETR driving is carried out, the limit of 13 or 15 hours maximum of duty (determined by the amount of EU/ AETR daily rest needed) must always be obeyed. EU/ AETR breaks must be taken within these duty periods.
Rest periods and breaks
All drivers who drive in scope of the EU/AETR drivers’ hours rules need to comply with the sector specific working time rules, which have the same rest requirements as the EU drivers’ hours rules. Therefore, a driver who drives vehicles in scope of the GB rules on some days/weeks must always comply with EU rest requirements unless they are classed as an occasional mobile worker. For more information, see Working Time Rules within this section.
Drivers who are occasional mobile workers only need to comply with EU/ AETR daily rest requirements on days when they drive under EU/ AETR rules. An EU/ AETR weekly rest period must also be taken. So where a driver who is an occasional mobile worker works under EU/ AETR rules in one week and under GB domestic rules the next week (or vice versa), they must take either an EU/ AETR regular or a reduced weekly rest in the week in which the EU/ AETR regulated driving takes place. If a reduced weekly rest is taken, compensation will be required by the end of the third week following the week in which the reduced weekly rest is taken.
As it is not permitted to work more than 6 x 24-hour periods (including any non-EU/ AETR regulated work) between weekly rest periods, drivers who are occasional mobile workers must take an EU/ AETR compliant weekly rest period prior to undertaking any EU/ AETR regulated work where any previous non-EU/ AETR regulated work means the 6 x 24-hour periods would be exceeded.
Where a driver who is an occasional mobile worker takes an EU/ AETR compliant weekly rest period at least once in any two consecutive weeks, this weekly rest period will also satisfy the requirement to take a 24-hour rest period once a fortnight under the GB domestic rules. If no EU / AETR weekly rest period is required in any two consecutive weeks but GB domestic driving takes place, one 24-hour rest period must be taken during those weeks to satisfy the GB domestic weekly rest rule.
Records
Working under EU/ AETR rules (whether an occasional mobile worker or not) means EU/ AETR record keeping rules will always apply. The general principles set out at the start of this section must be applied in order to record activities appropriately.
These rules require records to be kept for each day that work is undertaken, even if that work is not in scope of the EU/AETR rules (for example secondary employment). All non-EU/ AETR work must be recorded as ‘other work’ on a tachograph chart, printout or a manual entry using the manual input facility of a digital tachograph. EU/AETR rules also require records are kept for rest days and for annual or sick leave.
There are no separate record keeping requirements under GB domestic rules.
‘Other work’ means all activities which are defined as working time in Article 3(a) of Directive 2002/15/EC except ‘driving’ including any work for the same or another employer, within or outside of the transport sector.
If requested, drivers must be able to produce their driver card (if one is held even if it has not been used) and any manual or analogue records for driving which was in scope of EU/ AETR rules for the current day and driving which has taken place in the previous 28 calendar days.
Source – DVSA
