This is getting over-complicated - a side-effect, unfortunately, of the way the regulations themselves are expressed.
This is long because I’ve attempted to keep the discussion in logical order. However, I’ve used some subheadings to give this some structure and have tried to reach a simple conclusion.
If you want to cut to the chase, skip down to What records (at minimum) must you to keep?. I suggest any further discussion of this post is restricted to that section - I offer the rest by way of explanation as to how I got to these conclusions, so that people can disagree with me.
GV 262 page 39 - what is a “week”?
wilbur:
djw:
Any time you drive on EU rules, you will need to carry records of your work and rest periods since your last weekly rest …
My reading of GV262-3 p39 has “…within a week where they have undertaken driving…” - and “a week” in tachograph rules terms is a “fixed week”, not a sliding working week.
Is there somewhere else I’m missing which says “since your last weekly rest” rather than “within a week”? The distinction between working weeks and fixed weeks is really important for weekend workers.
The key question is actually when your obligation to keep to EUÂ hours’ rules ends if you do not drive again, though you rightly point out the importance of ‘fixed weeks’ in determining compliance with weekly rest requirements.
The phrase on page 39 we are talking about is not very clear. It reads:
Drivers must record all other work and periods of availability — including work for other employers — on all driving and non-driving days within a week where they have undertaken driving that comes within the scope of the EU rules on drivers’ hours since their last weekly rest.
The first issue is what ‘since their last weekly rest’ binds to.
What appears to be intended is this:
In any week when a driver has undertaken driving that comes within the scope of the EUÂ rules on drivers’ hours since their last weekly rest, drivers must record all other work and periods of availability - including work for other employers - on all driving and non-driving days within a week.
However, that still leaves the problem of whether ‘within a week’ is a ‘fixed’ week (00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday) as used for the ‘fortnight’ rule (see the section starting with the second dark green lozenge at the bottom of page 22 that begins “A regular weekly rest…”) or a ‘sliding’ week (commencing at the end of the weekly rest period). DVLA could usefully clarify this.
I don’t believe Tazbug has driven on EU hours at all yet - I’m pretty certain Tazbug has only just passed his LGV test - sorry if I’ve misremembered when you passed or if you’re female, Tazbug! It was with that in mind that I suggested the records started with the beginning of the weekly rest period to demonstrate it was a weekly rest (though this is, to a strict reading, not necessary, it’s only one more date and time). The requirement to keep records commences at the end of the weekly rest period.
What do the EU Regulations say about weekly rest?
The way the weekly rest requirements are expressed in Article 8 of EUÂ Regulation 561/2006 is clearer to me, and, in any case, Regulation 561/2006 is the definitive statement of the law.
In every week, starting 00:00 Monday and ending 24:00 Sunday, you must take 45 hours of continuous rest (weekly rest period). However, you can shorten this to 24 hours continuous rest (reduced weekly rest period) so long as:* you take a full 45 hours continuous rest next week
- you took a full 45 hours continuous rest last week, and
- before the end of the third week after the current week, you rest for the shortfall between your actual rest and 45 hours in one continuous period attached to another rest period (which can be a 9 hour reduced daily rest)
With this in mind, I think the record requirements are then reasonably clear.
What records (at minimum) must you keep?
When you drive on EU hours, you need records for all your time from the end of the weekly rest period before your drove until the end of the weekly rest period after you drove.
In addition, it seems wise to put beyond doubt that you met the requirements for weekly rest periods before and after you drove by recording:* the start and end of the weekly rest break in the week before you drove on EU hours, and
- if either the weekly rest break after you drove or the weekly rest period in the week before you drove was reduced, the start and end of the rest period in which you took compensating rest (N.B. you cannot reduce both of these weekly rest periods!)
Remember that ‘week’ means 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday in this case.
If you have those records, I can’t see there’s any ambiguity about your compliance with the EU drivers’ hours rules. The “in addition” records, because they are not necessarily contiguous with other records, may have to be written on an analogue chart or digital printout.
I’m sure that, as many have suggested, most VOSA personnel will exercise their discretion to accept unambiguous manual records written on something other than an analogue chart or digital printout. However, these records are outside the strict requirements of the law and may not be accepted - an individual VOSA officer, police officer or magistrates’ court accepting these records does not create a precedent that you or anyone else can rely on. By all accounts, some other EU countries take a stricter approach to the tachograph rules than the UK does, so you should be particularly careful to use an analogue chart or digital printout if you are going to drive outside the EU later that day or in the 28 full days thereafter.
If you drive a digital vehicle and think you may not drive on EU hours again or may not have access to a digital vehicle to make all the manual entries, I’d take a printout at the end of your shift to record manual entries after your shift. Alternatively, use a blank analogue chart. Either way, this becomes part of the records you need to carry for 28 days after the current day before handing in to the relevant employer.
Why is the law so complex - and why does my mind work in this (twisted?) way
Someone asked who I was. I don’t work for VOSA or the police; I hold some legal qualifications which I am in the process of topping up to a full law degree (I’ve completed my study of topics including EUÂ law and constitutional law, with criminal law underway). However, it must be borne in mind that I am just as fallible as the next person - the law is interpreted in the courts and anything anyone else says is educated conjecture. Ultimately, the only institution that can give a definitive ruling on EUÂ law is the Court of Justice of the European Union.
UKÂ law is written in a way that attempts to be comprehensive in its explanation of what is required (or prohibited). These requirements are usually applied literally. This is the so-called common law system.
EU law follows the so-called civil law system typical of most non-Commonwealth countries, including most other EU countries. This system involves laws that set out principles, rather than a comprehensive set of requirements. These principles are applied using the teleological approach - a nasty long word that means the courts apply the principles in a way that attempts to uphold the spirit of those principles in order to implement the intention behind them. EU law is typically not comprehensive in its explanations.
It is the lack of comprehensiveness in EUÂ law that causes confusion here. The only requirement to keep records in Regulation 2006/561 is found in Article 6(5) of Regulation 2006/561:
A driver shall record as other work any time spent as described in Article 4(e) [definition of ‘other work’] as well as any time spent driving a vehicle used for commercial operations not falling within the scope of this Regulation [domestic hours or AETRÂ rules], and shall record any periods of availability, as defined in Article 15(3)(c) of Regulation (EEC) No 3821/85 [definition of ‘period of availability’], since his last daily or weekly rest period. This record shall be entered either manually on a record sheet, a printout or by use of manual input facilities on recording equipment.
The comments in [square brackets] are my clarifications.
So the requirement to record is ‘since his last daily or weekly rest period’ - which doesn’t help one bit in resolving when you need to keep records until! However, it does underline that you must keep records from end of the rest period before you drive.
This particular requirement does not cover recording driving in scope of EUÂ regulations or rest - for those requirements, you have to look to the tachograph regulations in Regulation 3821/85.
Amongst many other things, Regulation 3821/85 says that the tachograph must be used (Article 3(1)), and that the driver must have any manual records for the current day and the previous 28 days with him, together with his digital driver card if he has one (Article 15(7)).
Conclusion
Keep true records that demonstrate full compliance with the EUÂ hours regulations - I believe I have outlined the bare minimum in What records (at minimum) must you keep? above. This way, you will not have a problem - though it theoretically involves a lot of manual records, if you record each change between other work (which can be the beginning and end of your work on that day, as breaks are immaterial if you are not driving a goods or passenger vehicle that day) and rest (everything else) on an analogue chart or digital printout as you go along, it isn’t that much of a chore. It’s only likely to be two transitions a day, five days a week.
The maximum records you need to carry are manual records for the current day plus the previous 28 days.
If there are gaps in the records that create doubt that you are in full compliance with the drivers’ hours regulations, you invite the conclusion that you are not in compliance, with the consequences that may bring.
