HGV Drivers' Hours Rules Explained

The drivers' hours rules exist to keep tired drivers off the road. They cap how long you can drive, force breaks into your day, and set out how much rest you must take before you drive again. Break them and you face fixed penalties, prohibition notices and points, and your operator risks its licence. This is the framework almost all HGV agency work runs under, so it pays to know it cold.

Which rules apply to you

Most goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes fall under the EU rules (retained in GB law after Brexit, and matched by the AETR rules for international journeys). A smaller set of journeys within Great Britain fall under the older GB domestic rules. If you are running a standard artic or rigid on general haulage, assume the EU rules apply. They are the ones that govern tachograph use, and they are what the figures below describe.

Daily driving limit

You can drive for 9 hours a day. Twice in a fixed week you may extend that to 10 hours. "Driving" means time actually at the wheel, recorded by the tachograph, not the length of your whole shift. Loading, waiting and paperwork are working time but not driving time.

The 45-minute break

After 4.5 hours of driving you must take a break of at least 45 minutes, unless you are then taking a rest period. You are allowed to split that break into two, but only in a set order:

• A first break of at least 15 minutes, followed by
• A second break of at least 30 minutes.

Both must fall within the 4.5-hour driving window. You cannot take the 30 first and the 15 later. During a break you must not do any other work; it has to be genuine rest.

Weekly and fortnightly limits

The fortnightly cap is the one drivers forget. If you drive the full 56 hours one week, you have only 34 hours left the following week to stay under 90 across the two.

Daily rest

In every 24-hour period you need at least 11 hours of daily rest. There are two ways to flex it:

• Reduced daily rest: down to 9 hours, no more than three times between any two weekly rest periods.
• Split daily rest: take it in two blocks, the first at least 3 hours and the second at least 9 hours, giving 12 hours in total.

Your daily rest must start within 24 hours of the end of your last one. Miss that window and you are into an infringement.

Weekly rest

You need a weekly rest of at least 45 hours. You can reduce it to a minimum of 24 hours, but a reduced weekly rest has to be paid back. The shortfall must be added to another rest period of at least 9 hours, taken in one block before the end of the third week following the week in question. You also cannot take two reduced weekly rests in a row: in any two consecutive weeks you must have at least one full 45-hour rest.

One extra point for international work: since a 2020 rule change, a driver cannot take a regular weekly rest of 45 hours or more in the vehicle. It has to be taken in suitable accommodation with sleeping and sanitary facilities, and the employer covers the cost.

How it fits with the Working Time rules

Drivers' hours are not the whole picture. They run alongside the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations, which cap your total working time (driving plus loading, unloading, paperwork and waiting where you cannot leave). You have to comply with both sets of rules at once, so a shift that is legal on driving hours can still breach working time limits, and vice versa.

Practical tips

• Plan your 45-minute break before you set off, not when the tacho starts warning you.
• Watch the fortnightly total, not just today's hours.
• If you are agency and switching operators week to week, keep your own note of hours. Your record follows you, not the depot.
• Keep your reduced rests and their payback tracked so you do not lose count.

Learn the numbers once and they become second nature. Nine and ten, forty-five minutes after four and a half, eleven hours down to nine, fifty-six and ninety, forty-five hours weekly down to twenty-four. Those figures are the spine of every legal shift you will ever drive.