Drivers' hours for lorry drivers

Fatigue kills lorry drivers and the people around them, which is why drivers’ hours questions appear in the LGV theory test and why DVSA can fine you or stop the vehicle at the roadside when you break the rules. The rules look like a list of numbers, but they hang together once you know which set applies and what each limit protects.

Which rules cover your lorry

For a goods vehicle, or vehicle and trailer combination, with a maximum weight over 3.5 tonnes, the assimilated rules apply in Great Britain. These are the former EU rules, kept in UK law. On journeys to or through a country that follows the AETR agreement, such as Norway, Switzerland or Turkey, the AETR rules apply; they are mostly the same.

Some vehicles are exempt from the assimilated rules, and these normally fall under the GB domestic rules instead. Vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or less used for business do too. The full exemption list is in section 1.1 of DVSA’s goods vehicle guidance, and theory questions usually assume you are under the assimilated rules unless they say otherwise.

The assimilated limits at a glance

A fixed week runs from 00:00 on Monday to 24:00 on Sunday.

Breaks

A break means no driving and no other work. A split break must have the 15-minute part first and the 30-minute part second. A 30-minute break followed by a 15-minute one does not count as the full 45 minutes. Short pauses of under 15 minutes do not count towards a break at all, but they are not counted as driving either.

Loading, supervising a delivery or doing paperwork is other work, not a break, even if the engine is off.

Daily rest

The daily rest must be completed within 24 hours of the end of the previous daily or weekly rest. Besides reducing it to 9 hours, you can split a regular daily rest into 3 hours followed by 9 hours, a total of 12. Rest can be taken in a lorry only if it is parked and has a proper bunk for each driver.

Weekly rest

Take a weekly rest no later than the end of six 24-hour periods after the previous one. A reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours must be paid back in one block, attached to another rest of at least 9 hours, before the end of the third week after the week in which it was reduced.

Drivers on international work can take two reduced weekly rests in a row if they are taken outside the UK and the driver’s country of residence, with conditions on the following weeks. The operator must also plan work so that drivers can return home or to base regularly.

When two drivers share the cab

Multi-manning means at least two drivers on board for the whole duty period apart from the first hour. Then the daily rest must be taken within 30 hours instead of 24, so a double-manned lorry can keep moving for longer. The rest itself must still be taken with the vehicle stationary.

GB domestic rules for goods vehicles

Under the domestic rules a goods vehicle driver must not:

• drive for more than 10 hours in a day
• be on duty for more than 11 hours in a working day (this limit does not apply on a day when you do not drive)

Hours are recorded on a weekly record sheet or a tachograph. If you mix assimilated and domestic driving in the same day or week, assimilated driving counts towards the domestic limits, and domestic driving counts as other work, never as a break.

Working time is separate

The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations sit on top of drivers’ hours. For drivers under the assimilated rules, working time must average no more than 48 hours a week over the reference period, with a maximum of 60 hours in any single week. You must not work more than six hours in a row without a break, and if you do night work between 00:00 and 04:00, working time is limited to 10 hours in 24 hours unless an agreement allows otherwise.

Where theory questions catch candidates

• Counting a stop at a delivery as a break.
• Taking the 30-minute part of a split break first.
• Forgetting that 10-hour days are allowed only twice a week, and that the 90-hour fortnight still applies.
• Thinking fatigue rules stop applying once you are within the limits. If you feel drowsy, stop somewhere safe and rest, whatever the tachograph says.

GOV.UK keeps the current wording, exemptions and enforcement details in Drivers’ hours and tachographs: goods vehicles. Drivers’ hours questions are a share of the 100 multiple-choice questions described in the LGV theory test format. For the planning side, such as fitting rest stops to restricted routes, read load security, weights and route planning, then test yourself in the LGV mock tests.