The HGV Working Time Directive, applied in Great Britain through the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, stops a driver working more than six hours in a row without a break. Working time of six to nine hours needs at least 30 minutes of breaks, more than nine hours needs 45 minutes, and every break must last at least 15 minutes.
Most break infringements in this area come from treating the 45-minute driving break as the only rule that matters. The working time rules count much more than driving, so a multi-drop driver who spends half the shift loading, unloading and completing paperwork can need a break long before the tachograph shows four and a half hours at the wheel.
This guide sets out what counts as working time under the HGV Working Time Directive, when breaks fall due, how periods of availability are treated, and the limits on night work and weekly hours, with a worked example for each rule. It follows the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) guidance for Great Britain.
Table of Contents
What the HGV Working Time Directive Covers
The HGV Working Time Directive is the common name for EU Directive 2002/15/EC, which the UK put into law as the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005. They still apply alongside the drivers’ hours rules in assimilated Regulation 561/2006. The drivers’ hours rules limit time spent driving, while the working time rules limit everything a driver does for the employer.
The Regulations cover mobile workers who drive or travel in vehicles that fall under the assimilated or AETR drivers’ hours rules, which takes in most HGV drivers operating commercially. According to the DVSA guidance on working time rules, working time includes driving, loading and unloading, cleaning and maintaining the vehicle, and the daily defect check.
Working time also covers administrative work linked to the journey and waiting time where the driver does not know in advance how long the wait will last. Breaks, rest and periods of availability are excluded from the calculation.
The daily walkaround is often missed when drivers add up their hours. It is recorded as other work, so it starts the working time clock before the vehicle has moved. The vehicle walkaround checks guide explains what the check involves.
Breaks Start After Six Hours of Work
The core rule of the HGV Working Time Directive is that a driver must not work more than six consecutive hours without taking a break. The total break time then depends on the length of the working day. Working time of six to nine hours needs breaks totalling at least 30 minutes, and more than nine hours needs at least 45 minutes.
Breaks can be split, but each part must last at least 15 minutes. A 45-minute requirement can therefore be met with three 15-minute stops, or with one 15-minute stop and one 30-minute stop in either order. The working time rules set no fixed sequence, which is a difference from the split driving break described in the next section.
Worked Example: A Multi-Drop Shift
A driver starts at 06:00 and spends two hours on the walkaround check, loading and route paperwork. They drive from 08:00 to 10:00, unload from 10:00 to 11:00 and drive again from 11:00 to 12:00.
At 12:00 they have driven for only three hours, so no driving break is due, but they have worked for six hours without stopping. Under the HGV Working Time Directive they must take a break of at least 15 minutes before doing any more work, and if the day runs beyond nine hours of working time, their breaks across the shift must total 45 minutes.
Worked Example: Breaks That Do Not Count
A driver starts at 07:00, works a 10-hour day and stops three times: for 12 minutes at 09:00, for 20 minutes at 11:30 and for 25 minutes at 14:00. The stops add up to 57 minutes, which looks comfortably above the 45 minutes the day requires.
The 12-minute stop is shorter than 15 minutes, so it does not count as a break under the working time rules, leaving exactly 45 minutes that do. If more than six hours of work had passed between any two of the qualifying breaks, the day would still fail, whatever the total.
How Working Time Breaks Fit with the 45-Minute Driving Break
The drivers’ hours rules require a break of at least 45 minutes after four and a half hours of driving. That break can be split into two parts, a first break of at least 15 minutes and a second of at least 30 minutes, and the order cannot be reversed. These rules are covered in full in the UK drivers’ hours regulations guide.
Both sets of rules apply on the same day, and a driver has to meet each of them. A break recorded correctly on the tachograph counts towards both, so a driver does not need to take one break for the drivers’ hours rules and a second for the working time rules.
In practice, the driving break tends to govern long trunking days, where the wheel time builds quickly. The six-hour working time rule tends to govern multi-drop and collection work, where much of the day is spent off the road.
Worked Example: A Trunking Day
A driver starts at 06:00 with 30 minutes of checks and loading, then drives from 06:30 to 11:00. That is four and a half hours of driving, so they take a 45-minute break from 11:00 to 11:45. They drive from 11:45 to 15:15 and unload until 16:30.
Their working time for the day is 9 hours 45 minutes, which needs 45 minutes of breaks, and the single driving break covers it. Neither block of work before or after the break exceeds six hours, so the day complies with both sets of rules.
Periods of Availability Are Neither Work nor a Break
A period of availability (POA) is waiting time whose length the driver knows in advance. The DVSA guidance gives accompanying a vehicle on a ferry crossing and waiting while other workers load or unload the vehicle as examples.
For a two-driver crew, time spent in the passenger seat while the vehicle is moving is also a POA, unless that driver is taking a break or doing other work such as map reading. Under the HGV Working Time Directive, POA does not count as working time, so it does not add to the six-hour count or the weekly average.
POA does not count as a break either, because the driver is still expected to be available, and it has to be recorded with the POA symbol on the tachograph rather than the bed symbol. If the driver does not know how long the wait will be, the time is working time and is recorded as other work.
Worked Example: Waiting at a Distribution Centre
A driver arrives at a distribution centre and is told the vehicle will be tipped in 90 minutes. Because the length of the wait is known, those 90 minutes can be recorded as POA. If the driver is instead told they could be called to the bay at any moment, the wait is of unknown length and counts as other work towards the six-hour limit.
Worked Example: A Two-Driver Crew
Two drivers share an eight-hour trunk run and swap at the halfway point. While one drives, the other sits in the passenger seat, and that time can be recorded as POA unless they are taking a break or doing other work.
Each driver therefore logs about four hours of driving as working time and about four hours as POA. Only the driving, and any checks or loading either of them carries out, counts towards their six-hour limit and their weekly average.
Night Work Limits Working Time to 10 Hours
For goods vehicle drivers covered by the HGV Working Time Directive, night time is the period between midnight and 04:00. If a driver performs any work in that window, their working time must not exceed 10 hours in any 24-hour period.
The limit applies to all working time, including loading, checks and paperwork, and it can only be exceeded where a collective or workforce agreement allows it. Drivers who work at night are also entitled to health checks under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Worked Example: An Overnight Delivery
A driver starts at 22:00 and makes a delivery at 01:30, which falls inside the night period. Their working time from 22:00 is capped at 10 hours. Breaks do not count as working time, so a driver who takes 45 minutes of breaks during the shift could work until 08:45 at the latest, provided the six-hour rule is also met.
The 48-Hour Average and the 60-Hour Weekly Ceiling
The HGV Working Time Directive limits working time to an average of 48 hours a week over the reference period, which is normally 17 weeks and can be extended to 26 weeks under a collective or workforce agreement. A driver can work up to 60 hours in any single week, provided the average stays within 48 hours across the reference period.
Worked Example: A Busy Seasonal Run
Over a 17-week reference period, the maximum total working time is 816 hours, which is 48 hours multiplied by 17. If a driver works the full 60 hours in each of the first six weeks to cover a seasonal contract, they have used 360 hours.
That leaves 456 hours for the remaining 11 weeks, an average of about 41.5 hours a week. A planner who looks only at individual weekly totals would see nothing wrong in weeks seven and eight, and could still run the driver past the average by the end of the period.
Daily and Weekly Rest Follow the Drivers’ Hours Rules
The working time rules do not set separate rest periods. Daily and weekly rest for drivers in scope of the HGV Working Time Directive are the same as under the drivers’ hours rules. A regular daily rest is 11 hours, which can be reduced to nine hours no more than three times between weekly rests.
A regular weekly rest is 45 hours, and a reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours is allowed on conditions. The UK drivers’ hours regulations guide covers the reduction and compensation rules in detail.
Drivers Under GB Domestic Rules Follow the 1998 Regulations
Not every HGV driver falls under the 2005 Regulations. Drivers of vehicles covered by the GB domestic drivers’ hours rules are instead subject to four provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998: the 48-hour weekly average, 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave, health checks for night workers and an entitlement to adequate rest.
For these drivers, the 48-hour average is normally measured over a rolling 17-week period, which a collective or workforce agreement can extend to as long as 52 weeks. The HGV Working Time Directive rules under the 2005 Regulations, by contrast, allow no reference period longer than 26 weeks.
Adequate rest has no fixed number of hours. DVSA guidance says employers must decide what it means for each worker, taking account of factors such as age, health and the type of work they do. The guidance also states that following the drivers’ hours and working time rules alone is not enough to manage the risks of fatigue.
HGV Working Time Directive Limits at a Glance
The table below brings these limits together with the points a transport office should check for each. Rest periods are left out because they follow the drivers’ hours rules described above.
| Rule | Limit | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Consecutive work | No more than 6 hours without a break | Other work entries before the first driving break |
| Break, 6 to 9 hours worked | At least 30 minutes in total | Each part is at least 15 minutes |
| Break, over 9 hours worked | At least 45 minutes in total | Breaks recorded with the bed symbol |
| Night work | 10 hours in any 24-hour period | Any work between 00:00 and 04:00 |
| Weekly maximum | 60 hours | Weekly totals including other work |
| Weekly average | 48 hours over 17 or 26 weeks | Running total against the reference period |
| Period of availability | Not working time and not a break | Wait length known in advance |
Employers Are Responsible for Working Time Records
Responsibility for HGV Working Time Directive compliance sits with the employer. The DVSA guidance says the employer must keep working time records, make them available for inspection and tell drivers about their responsibilities.
The records must be kept for two years after the end of the reference period, whether or not the operation works close to the 48-hour average. DVSA enforces the Regulations, and repeated infringements can bring an operator before the Traffic Commissioner, who can restrict, suspend or revoke an operator’s licence.
Records are also needed in less obvious arrangements. Where a driver is paid by or through an employment agency, the agency must keep the working time records, and owner drivers who do not meet the legal definition of a self-employed driver should keep a record of their own working time.
This guide is general information about the rules for Great Britain and is not legal advice. Operators with complex shift patterns, collective agreements or cross-border work should take advice from a transport law specialist or their trade association.
Managing This Across a Fleet
Most working time errors start as small mode entries rather than long hours. A walkaround left on driving mode, a tip slot recorded as a break or a 12-minute stop logged as a 15-minute break will each distort a driver’s record.
A transport manager with 20 drivers cannot check every six-hour block, night shift and running 17-week average by hand with confidence. Fleet management software that reads tachograph data can flag a driver approaching the six-hour limit, the night work cap or the 48-hour average while the schedule can still be changed.
Vehicle tracking gives a second check, because a vehicle stationary for 30 minutes with no break recorded shows which entries need correcting before an inspection. For the wider set of records, policies and checks an operator needs alongside working time, download the free Fleet Compliance Guide (UK).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an HGV Driver Opt Out of the 48-Hour Average?
Drivers covered by the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 cannot opt out of the 48-hour average, although breaks and periods of availability do not count towards it. Drivers under the 1998 Regulations, described above, are treated differently and can choose to opt out of the 48-hour limit.
Do the Working Time Rules Apply to Self-Employed HGV Drivers?
Self-employed drivers were brought within the 2005 Regulations in Great Britain in May 2012. They are responsible for keeping their own working time records for two years and for showing them to enforcement officers when asked.
What Happens If a Driver Works for More Than One Employer?
The limits apply to the driver’s total working time across all employers. A driver who works for more than one operator running vehicles under the drivers’ hours rules must tell each employer in writing about the hours worked for the other, so that each can keep the combined total within the limits.
Are Drivers Who Only Drive an HGV Occasionally Covered?
An occasional mobile worker is exempt from the 2005 Regulations if they work 10 days or fewer under the drivers’ hours rules in a reference period shorter than 26 weeks, or 15 days or fewer in a reference period of 26 weeks or longer. Those drivers fall under the Working Time Regulations 1998 instead.
