1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146 
New 25-mile limit on records exemptions for 'part-time drivers
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Drivers of goods vehicles who do not drive for more than four hours on any day will be exempt from keeping records only if they do not go outside a 25-mile radius from the vehicle's operating centre. This new limitation, introduced by the Minister of Transport "is necessary to prevent abuses of the concession which is intended to relieve from record keeping drivers engaged only in local deliveries".
The 25-mile limit was absent from the draft regulations, but is included in The Drivers' Hours (Goods Vehicles)(Keeping of Records) Regulations 1970 which the Minister has laid before Parliament and which come into force on March 1. Another new ruling, not in the draft, will be welcomed by operators; it removes the need for retrospective records to be kept by a driver who becomes subject to the record-keeping regulations towards the end of the working week. Records now need to be kept only for the days on which a driver drives a non-exempt vehicle outside the four-hour or the 25-mile limits.
As forecast in CM last week, for the first three months from March 1 the new records system will not be enforced with severity. Accepting that employers and drivers will need time to get used to the new system, which the industry regards as having been rushed in, the first three months will be looked on as a transitional period "during which Ministry enforcement staff will be concentrating on bringing the new rules to the attention of drivers and employers". In other words, prosecutions will be rare.
As well as record books produced by the RHA, FTA and private firms, 14-sheet daily or weekly records will be available from HMSO from February 10. The new system requires numbered books to be issued to drivers, and each sheet in the book to be completed in duplicate. The top copy is returned to the employer as soon as it is completed, and the book of duplicates exchanged for a new one when it is used up.