I have just started a new job. I went out with some other driver today whilst he showed me the ropes. He told me that we needed to put our tachograph to ‘out of scope’. That’s fine by me as we are involved with handling a perishable good. In fact, I’ve done the same job before and we drove under ‘Domestic hours rules’. But has the day got close to it’s end, I could see that this job is going to be difficult to finish within 11 hours. The driver accompanying me was clue-less about it. In all fairness, he hasn’t long got his HGV licence. Anyway, when I got back to the yard, I mentioned it to one of the drivers who’s been there for a few years and he said to me that I was wrong that you could work for 15 hours under Domestic rules and you could driver for 11. I replied that I thought he was wrong. But he was adamant that it was 15 hours. And another driver butted in saying that if I was right, he had been breaking the law for months…since he had gained his licence in fact. Am I right? I said if you are driving under Domestic Hours then you can only work for 11 hours and drive for 10. Am I missing something? He told me he would bring in some paragraph or other tomorrow to show me that he was right. I’m not going to argue. But I know there will be some days when I will definitely not finish work within 11 hours. I’m thinking I should drive under EU rules. I can’t believe that this hasn’t been picked up by staff in central office. We are just a few drivers working together in a semi-rural and quite distant location. I would appreciate any advice.
This is from GV262 available online.
Pete 
Daily driving
In any working day the maximum amount of driving permitted is 10 hours. The daily driving limit applies to driving on and off the public road. Off-road driving for the purposes of agriculture, quarrying, forestry, building work or civil engineering counts as duty rather than driving time.
Day: The day is the 24-hour period beginning with the start of duty time.
Daily duty
In any working day the maximum amount of duty permitted is 11 hours. A driver is exempt from the daily duty limit (11 hours) on any working day when they do not drive.
A driver who does not drive for more than 4 hours on each day of the week is exempt from the daily duty limit for the whole week.
Week: Is the period from 0000 hrs on a Monday to 2400 hrs the following Sunday.
Peter Smythe:
This is from GV262 available online.Pete
Daily driving
In any working day the maximum amount of driving permitted is 10 hours. The daily driving limit applies to driving on and off the public road. Off-road driving for the purposes of agriculture, quarrying, forestry, building work or civil engineering counts as duty rather than driving time.
Day: The day is the 24-hour period beginning with the start of duty time.
Daily duty
In any working day the maximum amount of duty permitted is 11 hours. A driver is exempt from the daily duty limit (11 hours) on any working day when they do not drive.
A driver who does not drive for more than 4 hours on each day of the week is exempt from the daily duty limit for the whole week.
Week: Is the period from 0000 hrs on a Monday to 2400 hrs the following Sunday.
That’s clear until we come to the bit which I’ve put in bold above. Does that mean that if you drive for under 4 hours everyday then the 11 hours limit does not apply? But if you drive under 4 hours each day but you drive for 4 hours and say 5 minutes on one of those days then the limit once again applies?
Mooping:
Does that mean that if you drive for under 4 hours everyday then the 11 hours limit does not apply? But if you drive under 4 hours each day but you drive for 4 hours and say 5 minutes on one of those days then the limit once again applies?
That is the way I read it also
Anybody have any other interpretation before I move onto another question? 
Does that mean that if you drive for under 4 hours everyday then the 11 hours limit does not apply? But if you drive under 4 hours each day but you drive for 4 hours and say 5 minutes on one of those days then the limit once again applies?
I cant see any other way of interpreting what it says.
Pete
We drive under 4 hours and regularly do 16 hour days,
JakeWS:
We drive under 4 hours and regularly do 16 hour days,
Euro rules?
Domestic rules?
What work are you actually doing?
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I’ve driven under domestic regs pretty much my whole driving career.
I’ve worked for two different firms both well regarded in the fairly niche market I work in.
You never drive more than 10 hours in a 24 hour period that’s a given. You start at 6am and do a 10 hour drive you cannot drive again until 6am the following day regardless of how long a rest you’ve had.
When I comes to the 11 hour duty time breaks don’t count towards that nor does periods you spend waiting (POA if using a digital tacho). This is how it’s been at both firms.
I spent nearly 3 years tramping under these regs and have had a few tugs from vosa and they’ve gone through my log book and never found any issue with it.
When tramping we were instructed to have no less than 9 hours off but this was company policy rather than law.
So yes it is possible to do more than an 11 hour day and in my previous job if you done any less than 13/14 it was a quiet day. Hence why I’ve moved from tramping to 4 on 4 off days.
harrawaffa:
I’ve driven under domestic regs pretty much my whole driving career.
I’ve worked for two different firms both well regarded in the fairly niche market I work in.
You never drive more than 10 hours in a 24 hour period that’s a given. You start at 6am and do a 10 hour drive you cannot drive again until 6am the following day regardless of how long a rest you’ve had.
When I comes to the 11 hour duty time breaks don’t count towards that nor does periods you spend waiting (POA if using a digital tacho). This is how it’s been at both firms.
I spent nearly 3 years tramping under these regs and have had a few tugs from vosa and they’ve gone through my log book and never found any issue with it.
When tramping we were instructed to have no less than 9 hours off but this was company policy rather than law.
So yes it is possible to do more than an 11 hour day and in my previous job if you done any less than 13/14 it was a quiet day. Hence why I’ve moved from tramping to 4 on 4 off days.
That’s confused me even more.
Unless I’m missing something, I cant see how you can be tramping on Domestic Regs.
Pete
Peter Smythe:
Unless I’m missing something, I cant see how you can be tramping on Domestic Regs.Pete
I suppose they could be if each 24 hours only had 11 hours of work in it with 10 hours max driving and possibly lots of long breaks or perhaps 12 hours off between shifts 
Peter Smythe:
Unless I’m missing something, I cant see how you can be tramping on Domestic Regs.Pete
I was wondering the same.
Most domestic work seems to be on local farm work/ or fisheries in a 100km limit so tramping must be a rarity?
A specialised vehicle shunting around between the deep dark forest and a depot, away from base, but within a 100km radius might count??
Yes it’s rare but any firm who exclusively transport animal by products can claim exemption. See here:
gov.uk/drivers-hours/exemptions-from-eu-law
About half way down the list “vehicles that are used to carry animal waste or carcasses that are not intended for human consumption”.
Most firms in this sector have drivers who are out all week under domestic regs.
Is there a 100km limit on domestic
ROG:
Is there a 100km limit on domestic
In this case if the animals are alive yes. If they’re dead no.
Edit: If they’re alive it’s a 50km limit.