Foreign trips don't count for drivers' hours total
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• Journeys abroad cannot be taken into account in calculating whether a driver has exceeded the number of hours he is permitted to work, the Queen's Bench Divisional Court ruled on Tuesday.
The 1968 Transport Act regulations did not apply to those parts of a journey done outside Britain, the Court held.
By a 2-1 majority the court allowed with costs an appeal by a driver and his employers against their convictions arising out of cross-channel trips.
Their decision is to be tested in the House of Lords. The court gave leave for the "Minister of Transport" to appeal.
The appeal was brought by the driver, Mr. Henry William Fox, and his employers, Seabourne Express Ltd., of Seabourne House, Barking, Essex, against their convictions by magistrates at Beacontree on April 4 1972, of offences under the Transport Act. Mr. Fox was fined a total of £24 and the company £120 with a £60 costs order.
The driver was found guilty of driving a lorry for more than 10 hours in a working day, exceeding an 11-hour working day without the statutory rest period, and failing to keep current records of hours worked, while his employers were held to have permitted hlin to commit the offences.
Mr. Justice Bridge and Lord Widgery (Lord Chief Justice) thought a driver's hours could not be calculated by the aggregate of hours worked abroad and those worked in this country.
But Mr. Justice Ashworth, dissenting, pointed out that the purpose of the regulations was to protect the public from the risk of drivers suffering from fatigue.
"Because of that I feel a reluctance to countenance any relaxation of the limits of a driver's permitted hours," he said.
"Anyone who has been driving for 10 hours in France is no less likely to be a menace when he drives in this country than a man who has been driving for 10 hours in England."
Mr. Justice Bridge said the alleged offences related to a round-trip to France and back.
Construing the regulations he could not accept there was any duty on a driver to keep records of his journeys outside the jurisdiction of the English courts. That being the case he did not think the regulations applied to a "hybrid" offence where it was necessary to total the hours driven on either side of the channel to arrive at an excess.
Lord Widgery agreed without adding anything.