Drivers' hours are the rules that shape every professional driver's working day. Here are the driving limits, breaks and rest periods, how the Working Time rules sit alongside them, and what you need to know about your digital card.
No other area of transport compliance produces as many arguments, as much confusion or as many infringement letters as drivers' hours. The rules are not, in fairness, especially complicated — but they interlock, they use words like "week" in a very specific sense, and a second set of rules on working time runs alongside them measuring something different. This guide sets out the framework at a general level so drivers and transport teams share the same vocabulary. For the definitive position on any individual case, DVSA guidance is the authority.
Most goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes operating in Great Britain fall under the GB/EU drivers' hours rules, recorded on a tachograph. A separate set of GB domestic rules covers certain journeys and vehicle types that fall outside that scope, and international work engages the AETR framework. Exemptions and derogations exist — for example for certain specialised, non-commercial or short-radius operations — but they are narrower than the trade often assumes, and the penalty for misjudging one falls on the operator's licence as well as on the driver. If your transport manager cannot say clearly which rules a job runs under, that is a question worth pressing.
"Fixed week" has a defined meaning here — it runs from 00:00 Monday to 24:00 the following Sunday — and is not the same as a rolling seven days. That distinction accounts for a surprising share of infringements.
After 4.5 hours of driving you must take a break of at least 45 minutes, unless you are starting a rest period. That break may be split into two parts — first a period of at least 15 minutes, then a period of at least 30 minutes — and the order matters: 30 followed by 15 does not satisfy the requirement. Breaks must be genuine: you cannot do other work, and the vehicle cannot be moving.
A weekly rest must be started no later than the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods from the end of the previous weekly rest. There are also restrictions on where a regular weekly rest may be taken — in particular, it should not be spent in the vehicle, and operators are expected to provide suitable accommodation.
The rules on reduced rest and compensation are where most experienced drivers slip. If you take a reduction, note when the compensation is owed — do not rely on remembering it three weeks later.
Drivers' hours limit driving. The road transport working time rules limit working — which includes driving, loading and unloading, checks, waiting where you cannot freely dispose of your time, and other duties. In general terms these rules provide for an average working week of 48 hours over a reference period, an absolute ceiling of 60 hours in any single week, a limit on night work, and their own break requirements once you have worked more than six hours, increasing beyond nine hours.
The two regimes are enforced separately and you must comply with both. A driver can be entirely legal on driving hours and simultaneously in breach on working time — a scenario that occurs regularly on multi-drop and driver-operator work, where actual driving is modest but on-site time is substantial. It is one reason our lorry-loader guide stresses that on-site time is working time.
The tachograph system depends on smart cards, of which there are four types:
Apply for a driver card renewal well before expiry; DVLA advises applying ahead of the expiry date and does not guarantee turnaround times, so leaving it late risks time off the road. If your card is lost, stolen or faulty you must report it and apply for a replacement, and there are strict limits on how long you may continue driving using printouts and manual records in the meantime.
Operators must download data regularly — driver cards and vehicle units on their own required cycles — and retain records for the prescribed period, generally 12 months, producing them to DVSA on request. Drivers must carry the records required for the current day and the preceding defined period, and must make correct manual entries for other work, availability and periods away from the vehicle. Missing manual entries are among the most frequently recorded infringements, and they are entirely within the driver's control.
Infringement history is a live topic in permanent driver recruitment. Employers running under an operator's licence are accountable to the Traffic Commissioner for their drivers' compliance, so a candidate who can talk fluently about split breaks, reduced rest compensation and manual entries is signalling something valuable. Conversely, a pattern of avoidable infringements is difficult to explain away. Keep your CPC, DQC and medical current, add specialist tickets such as ADR where they suit your goals, and benchmark your worth with our salary checker or the logistics salary guide. Drivers moving towards compliance and planning roles should look at our transport manager desk.
Candidates: if you run clean and want a permanent role with an operator that plans work properly rather than pushing you to the edge of your hours, upload your CV and our driving recruitment specialists will find it. Employers: compliance-minded permanent drivers protect your O-licence. Submit your vacancy and our haulage recruitment team will shortlist accordingly.
We place professional drivers with employers who plan the work properly — and we tell you honestly what the role really involves.