The temporary exemptions to certain provisions of the EC Drivers' Hours rules which were introduced in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic have ended as at 23:59 31st May 2020.

The exemptions, which had been in place since 23rd March 2020 (full details can be found here), have been subject to a government review and based on current evidence it has been decided that there is no need to extend these measures beyond their present expiry at the end of May.

What this means is that operators and drivers will be expected to comply as normal with the regulations for recording work, duty and driving time limits and taking the correct break and rest periods as they apply to their specific operations and duties, and should expect the rules to be enforced by the DVSA or police in the usual way.

Temporary relaxations to the Domestic Drivers Hours rules will remain in place until 23:59 on 14th June 2020.  By way of a reminder, those relaxations are as follows:

  1. An extension of the GB duty time limit from 11 hours to 12 hours
  2. An extension of the GB daily driving time limit of 10 hours to 11 hours.

Drivers are only permitted to take advantage of this temporary relaxation 5 days in any 7 day period, and must take a rest period of 24 hours within the same 7 day period when taking advantage of this relaxation.

If you have any queries or concerns about the application of these relaxations - or any other matter arising out of the current COVID-19 outbreak and its effects on the road transport industry - please call us on 01279 818280 or 07912 073994, or click here to send an email.

2nd June 2020
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