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Drivers' working hours
Two sets of working time regulations and two sets of parallel regulations control working time on the roads. The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 affect mobile workers (mainly drivers, crew and other travelling staff) who are travelling in vehicles subject to the EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations. The regulations introduced limits on weekly working time (excluding breaks and periods of availability) and a limit on the amount of work that can be done at night. They also specify how much continuous work can be done before taking a break and introduce daily and weekly rest limits for the crew and travelling staff. Under the regulations, working time for mobile workers must not exceed:
• an average 48-hour week (normally calculated over a four-month reference period);
• 60 hours in any single week; or
• 10 hours in any 24-hour period, if working at night.
A reference period for the average 48-hour week may be extended from four to six months and the amount of night work can exceed 10 hours if a collective or workforce agreement is in place.
Former road haulage directors jailed and ordered to pay back proceeds of crime
In March 2013 two former haulage directors of Boyle Transport, who were jailed in 2012, were ordered to pay more than £1.8m after drivers for the company were found to have driven for up to 22 hours a day, more than one and a half times the legal limit. Both pleaded guilty to conspiring with drivers to make false tachograph records. Patrick Boyle (who was given a two-year prison sentence at Carlisle Crown Court in May 2012) and Mark Boyle (who was given an 18-month prison sentence) were given six months to pay £1.1m and £738,000 respectively. If they do not pay, they will have to serve an extra five and half years’ and four years’ prison sentences respectively.
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 was used to determine the penalties. They were found to have benefitted by more than £10 million from illegal activity that undercut their competitors’ delivery cost and time, putting pressure on companies working within the law. The two were also disqualified from acting as company directors, including having any management position within a company, for a period of five years. The case followed one of the largest investigations ever conducted by Cumbria’s Roads Policing Unit and the licensing, testing and enforcement service, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA).
An audit found that 91% of journeys involving Boyle Transport trucks and drivers had some form of manipulation or falsification hiding the true driving and hours worked. An examination of the assets of the Boyles established that they had benefited from their criminality by more than £10 million.
Alternatively, mobile workers may be covered by the WTR plus the domestic Drivers’ Hours rules. Since 11 May 2012 self-employed drivers have been covered by the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations.
The rules on drivers’ hours and tachograph use in the UK are very complex. Detailed guidance is available from the Department of Transport at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-on-drivers-hours-and-tachographs-goods-vehicles-in-gb