BREAKTIME
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• I am relatively new to truck driving and have been given different advice about the break-fromdriving rule. Even my boss and his transport manager do not seem to agree on it.
Can you tell me what the law Is on this?
III The requirement to take a 45-minute break after four
and-a-half hours' driving applies to a driver who is subject to the EC drivers' hours law. Exempt from this law are goods vehicles not over 3.5 tonnes permissible maximum weight and various vehicles used for special purposes.
Article 7 of EC Regulation 3820/85 states that after fourand-a-half hours' driving a driver must take a break of at least 45 minutes unless he is then beginning a daily rest period. The 45-minute break can be replaced by breaks of at !east 15 minutes each, spread out over the driving period or immediately after it so that the requirement is complied with. A few years ago there was disagreement in this country on when the start of the four-anda-half hours was to be fixed.
One view was that the working day was broken up into fixed periods of four-and-a-half hours and another was that the rule applied to any period of four-and-a-half hours during the working day. It may be that your managers are still applying these interpretations.
The problem of interpretation was referred to the European Court in the case of DPP vs Charlton [1994]RTR 133.
However, the court did not follow either of the British interpretations but ruled that "where a driver has taken 45 minutes' break, either as a single break or as several breaks of at least 15 minutes, during or at the end of a four-and-a-halfhour driving period, the calculation [of driving time] should begin afresh, without taking into account the driving time and breaks previously completed by the driver".
So once 45 minutes in break time have been taken the slate is wiped clean and the calculations begin afresh.
A truck driver who is exempt from the EC Regulation is subject to the British law in the Transport Act 1968, as modified. This does not require breaks from driving, daily rest periods or weekly rest periods.