Eight-hour driving day for Britons abroad
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from a special correspondent • The European AETR regulations will apply to British drivers of trucks and coaches when operating in or through the Common Market countries—France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg—from October 1.
Under the AETR agreement, driving is limited to eight hours a day, with maximum continuous periods of driving not exceeding four hours, after which there must be one hour for rest, or two half-hour periods within the remainder of the driving day.
The weekly limit for rigids and small artics is 50 hours, but from October 1 1971 it will come down to 48 hours. Currently, for artics over 20 tons gross the hours are 48 weekly. From October 1971 there will be a limit of 92 hours in any two consecutive weeks.
A driver must have 11 hours rest in the 24 hours preceding his driving day.
Where drivers travel over 450km in a day, they must hand over to another driver at the 450km mark, or share the driving with another crewman.
The RHA, FTA and PVOA are investigating the supply of AETR record books. These will almost certainly be required in Germany, even if other countries agree to accept British log books as adequate documents.