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5th March 1971, Page 53
5th March 1971
Page 53
Page 53, 5th March 1971 — know the law
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by Les Oldriclge AIRTE, AMIMI

Goods vehicles drivers' hours (2)

CONTINUING with definitions concerning drivers' hours of work, "on duty" in the case of an employee-driver means his being on duty, whether for driving or for any other purpose, for any employer by whom he is employed as a driver. In the case of an owner-driver the expression means when he is driving a goods vehicle for the purpose of trade or business, or being engaged in work in connection with the vehicle or its load for the purpose of that trade or business.

Now let me turn to the general exemptions under the Act.

Under the Drivers' Hours (Goods Vehicles) (Exemptions) Regulations, 1970, a driver who spends time on duty to deal with an emergency may be exempted from the 10-hour driving limit, the 11 hours on duty and 121-hour spreadover limit and the need to take a half-hour break after 5+-hours on duty. He may also exceed the 11 hours' duty limit to deal with the actual emergency. If he is called out to deal with the emergency during his 11-hour rest period he can work normally on the following day so long as the period of rest before he was called out and the period after he has dealt with the emergency, and before he again resumes work, amounts in the aggregate to 11 hours.

Emergencies are defined in the Regulations as events requiring immediate action to avoid danger to life or health, serious interruption of essential public services (supply of gas, water, electricity and drainage) or telecommunications and post services or in the use of roads or airports and damage to property. To take advantage of the concession the circumstances must be an emergency falling clearly within the above definition.

Drivers who drive goods vehicles for no more than 4 hours on each day of any working week are exempt from all the requirements relating to hours of duty and rest for the whole of that working week. (Transport. Act 1968 S.96 (7).) It must be remembered, however, that this section has a retrospective effect. If a driver drives for only 3+ hours on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but is on duty, let us say, for 13 hours on each of these days, he is limited to less than 4 hours' driving on Friday. If he works more than 4 hours on the Friday he will have broken the law on each of the previous days of the week by exceeding the permitted 11 hours "on duty".

Non-driving days

On days when a driver does no driving, when, for example, he spends a day in the depot cleaning his lorry, helping load and unload vehicles or doing any other work, the 11 hours on duty and the half-hour break for refreshments after 5+ hours on duty do not apply to him on that day. Any excess of duty over 11 hours is not counted towards the 60-hour limit on weekly duty.

Certain drivers, listed here, are not bound by the hours of work law when driving

goods vehicles with a plated weight not exceeding 31 tons plated weight or if not plated 30cwt unladen weight, except that their driving time-limit remains at 10 hours per day. To obtain this concession the driver must fall within one of the following categories:—

(a) profession of doctor, nurse, midwife, dentist or veterinary surgeon; or (b) use (the vehicle) wholly or mainly in connection with the carrying out of any service of inspection, cleaning, maintenance, repair, installation or fitting; or (c) be driving solely while acting as a commercial traveller and carrying only goods used for soliciting orders (ie samples); (d) solely when acting in the course of his employment by the RAC, AA or Royal Scottish Automobile Club;

(e) and recently (CM, December 111970) film operations staff, driving for professional purposes have been added to this list.

Persons driving military, police or fire brigade vehicles are exempt from all the restrictions.

If a driver is engaged on agricultural or forestry work and does not exceed 4 hours' driving per day on public roads then he is exempt from the general hours rules altogether.

The same applies to drivers engaged on work on the construction, reconstruction, alteration, extension or maintenance of a building or part of a building, other fixed work or construction or civil engineering including the improvement or maintenance of a road.

Other exemptions have been made for particular trades and a table setting these out will appear on a later date.

There is a maximum fine of £200 for a • driver contravening the rules and a similar penalty for anyone causing or permitting the offence. The latter provision covers the driver's employer or anyone else who causes or permits the offence.

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Organisations: Scottish Automobile Club

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