DRIVERS' HOURS RELAXATION EXPLAINED
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The emergency relaxation not suspension of EU drivers' hours enforcement applies.
The relaxation also applied to all haulers for four days ending at 11.59pm on 7 December.
The relaxation includes: • Replacing the EU daily driving limit of nine hours with one of 10 hours.
• Reducing the daily rest requirements from 11 to nine hours.
• Revising the weekly driving limit to 56 hours and fortnightly driving limit to 90 hours.
• Postponing the weekly rest requirement until 11:59pm on 17 December, at which stage a driver has to take a normal weekly rest of 45 hours.
• A driver must also take a minimum rest of 24 hours. This must begin no later than the end of the 11th day since the end of his last weekly rest period.
The requirement to take a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours driving still remains. However, the rules has been relaxed for this period to allow drivers to work up to 66 hours instead of the usual 60 hours including driving and other duties.
This extra time should be recorded, but does not count for the purposes of determining average working time.
The Department for Transport also says the temporary relaxation of enforcement should be implemented through agreement between employers and employees and/or driver representatives.