In August 2020, EU Regulation 2020/1054 changed the recording requirements for drivers operating under the retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations forever.
The removal of eight words, relating to what the driver is required to record, has changed the recording requirements landscape.
Those words are “since his last daily or weekly rest period”.
By removing those words, Article 6(5) of the retained EU legislation now states “A driver shall record as other work any time spent as described in point (e) of Article 4 as well as any time spent driving a vehicle used for commercial operations that do not fall within the scope of this Regulation, and shall record any periods of availability, as defined in point (b) of Article 3 of Directive 2002/15/EC, in accordance with point (b)(iii) of Article 34(5) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 ). This record shall be entered either manually on a record sheet or printout or by use of manual input facilities on recording equipment.”
What does this mean in SIMPLE TERMS?
In the simplest term, if a driver drives, at any time, under the retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations, then the driver must, as a minimum have records with them, should they be stopped at the roadside for the current day and the previous 28 calendar days. These records must cover the driver’s drive, other work, periods of availability, rest, and break for the full 24 hours of each of those days and those records can only be on one of the following:
a. Manually on a record sheet (a record sheet is an analogue tachograph chart and is defined – it is not any other form of sheet)
b. Manually on a printout
c. A manual entry onto the driver’s digital card using the facilities on a digital tachograph.
No other method of record is acceptable under the retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations.
The DVSA have relaxed slightly in that the records using options a, b or c must be used in the week in which work under the retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations is undertaken. In other ‘Fixed Weeks’ (0000 hours on a Monday to 2400 hours the following Sunday) where NO work is undertaken under retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulations, i.e. the driver is operating under GB Domestic Regulations or working in an office or yard, then the DVSA will allow ‘block recordings’, but drivers MUST know how to record these to cover a complete ‘Fixed Week’.
Furthermore, if the driver is requested to drive on a Saturday, then records, even under the DVSA relaxation, must be made back to 0000 hours on a Monday using one of options a, b or c above.
ADVICE – It is worse than complex and the above is a very short appraisal of the law and its changes. To cover it fully would require a short story rather than a blog. However, it must be obeyed, and ignorance is no defence. The safest way is to record everything on the driver’s digital card and to do that drivers must know how to make a manual entry, and the onus of training a driver in the ‘functioning’ of the equipment also lies with the Operator. Oh, and to add to the matter further a driver must also now record, on their driver’s digital card, annual leave, and sick leave.
If you have any questions, need advice or training assistance, then please contact us.
*This article is based on the regulations and interpretations on the day of publishing 31/05/2023
