Government consults on draft Regulations on working time in road transport

In November 2004, the UK's Department for Transport published a consultative draft of Regulations aimed at implementing the 2002 EU Directive on the working time of road transport workers.

Mobile workers in road transport are currently excluded from key protections granted to most workers under the EU working time Directive (originally adopted in 1993 and now consolidated in Directive 2003/88/EC) and the UK’s Working Time Regulations 1998 (UK9810154F). However, EU Member States are required to implement the provisions of the sector-specific Directive 2002/15/EC on the organisation of working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities (EU0204208F) by 23 March 2005.

On 1 November 2004, the Department for Transport (DfT) published draft Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations intended to implement the 2002 Directive in the UK. The move follows a consultation exercise in 2003 on the UK’s approach to implementing the Directive. The government sought views on the draft Regulations and accompanying guidance by 12 December 2004, prior to finalising the legislation and bringing it into force by the due deadline.

The Regulations will affect mobile workers (mainly drivers and crew) travelling in vehicles subject to EU drivers’ hours rules (Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3820/85). Under the new Regulations, working time for mobile workers must not exceed:

• an average of 48 hours a week over the relevant reference period; and

• 60 hours in any single week.

There will be 'default' four-month reference periods for calculating average weekly working hours, running from April to July, August to November and December to March, but alternative reference periods of up to six months are possible under a collective or workforce agreement. No opt-out is possible. Night work is limited to 10 hours in any 24-hour period, but can exceed this under a collective or workforce agreement.

The draft Regulations provide that all those who do less than 11 days’ work under EU driver’s hours rules during the reference period (or less than 16 days over a 26-week reference period) will not be covered by the Regulations. Instead, they will be subject to the limits under the Working Time Regulations 1998 and, when appropriate, to EU drivers’ hours rules.

The Regulations define 'working time' to include not only time spent driving but also time spent loading and unloading; assisting passengers on and off the vehicle; cleaning and technical maintenance; work intended to ensure the safety of the vehicle, its cargo and passengers; and waiting time where the foreseeable duration is not known in advance. It does not include routine travel between home and the normal place of work; rests and breaks; or 'periods of availability'- ie waiting time, the duration of which the worker knows of in advance, such as time spent accompanying a vehicle being transported by boat or train, or time spent waiting at frontiers.

Employers will have to inform workers of their rights under the new Regulations and of the provisions of any relevant collective agreement, and keep records to show that the Regulations are being complied with. The Regulations will be enforced in the UK by the Vehicle and Operator Service Agency, but the government notes that 'other countries may decide to enforce the new working time limits at the roadside, by checking tachograph records'.

Commenting on the publication of the draft Regulations, transport minister David Jamieson said: 'Commercial drivers and crew are just about the last group of workers to receive working time protection. The new Regulations and guidance include a simpler, more transparent, method of calculating average working time and also apply separate rules for occasional drivers.'

The Road Haulage Association, representing employers, said that the draft Regulations were 'not as bad as we first feared': the government had 'listened to the grave concerns' within the industry about the implications of the Directive. However, the Transport and General Workers’ Union is critical of aspects of the draft Regulations. In particular, it argues that, as 'periods of availability' will not be counted as working time, some drivers will still face excessively long hours of work.