Drivers & hours
What are the drivers' hours rules?
The drivers' hours rules limit how long a driver may drive, how long they may work, and the breaks and rest they must take. They exist to manage fatigue, and compliance with them is an operator licence undertaking.
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<img src="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/drivers-hours/diagram.svg" alt="drivers' hours rules — diagram from FleetOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk/glossary/drivers-hours">What are the drivers' hours rules?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://fleetoptix.co.uk">FleetOptix</a>
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</figure>There are separate regimes depending on the vehicle and the journey, and working out which applies is the first question rather than a detail. Getting the regime wrong produces a fleet that is scrupulously compliant with rules that do not apply to it.
Working time is a separate matter from driving time and is governed by its own rules. A driver can be inside their driving limits and outside their working time limits in the same week.
Responsibility is shared. A driver commits the offence, and an operator who schedules work that cannot be done within the rules causes it — which is why schedules, not just records, are examined when something goes wrong.
What goes wrong in practice
- A schedule that only works if every break is taken at the shortest permissible length and nothing goes wrong.
- Assuming the same regime applies across a mixed fleet without checking each operation.
- Working time tracked only as driving time, with other work and periods of availability uncounted.