United Kingdom

The Department for Transport (DfT) has introduced a temporary and limited urgent relaxation of the enforcement of EU drivers’ hours rules in England, Scotland and Wales. It has also introduced a temporary and limited urgent relaxation of the enforcement of GB drivers’ hours rules in England, Scotland and Wales.

This applies to those undertaking carriage of goods by road in all sectors, between 00.01 on Monday 23 March and 23.59 on Tuesday 21 April (continuation of the relaxation past 5 April is subject to review).

The EU drivers’ hours rules can be temporarily relaxed as follows:

a)    Replacement of the EU daily driving limit of 9 hours with one of 11 hours.

b)    Reduction of the daily rest requirements from 11 to 9 hours.

c)    Lifting the weekly (56 hours) and fortnightly driving limits (90 hours) to 60 and 96 hours respectively.

d)    Postponement of the requirement to start a weekly rest period after six-24 hours periods, for after seven 24 hours period; although two regular weekly rest periods or a regular and a reduced weekly rest period will still be required within a fortnight.

e)    The requirements for daily breaks of 45 minutes after 4.5 hours driving replaced with replaced with a break of 45 minutes after 5.5 hours of driving.

Drivers must not use relaxation ‘a’ and ‘d’ at the same time. This is to ensure drivers are able to get adequate rest. DfT guidance can be found here.

From Monday 23 March all road user charging schemes in the capital will be temporarily suspended until further notice. This includes the Congestion Charge, the central London ULEZ and the London-wide LEZ.

Source: FTA