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Owner-drivers to be included

24th June 2010, Page 10
24th June 2010
Page 10
Page 10, 24th June 2010 — Owner-drivers to be included
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

in Working Time Directive rules

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OWNER-DRIVERS will have to contend with a 48-hour week under working time legislation in addition to drivers hours rules, after an unsuccessful vote last week in the European Parliament (EP) to permanently exclude the self-employed from the regulations Since the Road Transport Directive (RTD) was introduced in 2005, self-employed drivers have been temporarily exempt from the Working Time Directive for the road transport industry and could set their own working hours, as long as they adhered to drivers' hours regulations.

This was due to come to an end last March, but the European Commission has been seeking to permanently exempt them. A vote in the EP last week rejected this proposal by 368 votes to 301 against.

Solicitor Lucy Wood at Rothera Dowson says: "This is likely to have a detrimental impact Ion owner-drivers] not only because the number of hours a week they will be allowed to work is reduced, but also because they will now have to keep records on working time to demonstrate that they have been compliant."

Road Haulage Association policy director Jack Semple describes the enforcement of the legislation on self-employed drivers as "an absurdity" and calls for a single set of rules on working time. "You have to ask yourself why we have got the RTD at all. We had a set of rules: there's not a huge difference in terms of the end product."

UK1P Wales MEP John Burton says: "Extending the Working Time Directive to cover self-employed people is nonsensical. It is window dressed as protecting employees' rights and therefore has no place in a self-employed framework.

Ron Webb, national secretary for the road transport section of Unite, declares the result to be a major victory: "If this proposal had become a reality, it would have been a real incentive for the industry to convert employed drivers into false self-employed. Thankfully, this proposal has been crushed and we pray we will not see its like again."

As CM went to press, it was unclear when the change will occur.

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