Driver hours, rest periods, tachograph and transport documentation
Driving and rest time rules (Regulation (EC) 561/2006, with AETR applying outside the EU) are examined numerically: you will be asked to work out whether a schedule is legal. The tachograph and documentation questions test what you must carry, record and produce at a roadside check.
The core limits
- 4.5 hours driving, then a 45-minute break. The break may be split into 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes, in that order.
- Daily driving: 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours twice in a week. Weekly driving: 56 hours; two consecutive weeks: 90 hours.
- Daily rest: 11 hours, reducible to 9 hours up to three times between weekly rests. Weekly rest: 45 hours, reducible to 24 hours with equivalent compensation taken en bloc.
- Loading, unloading and waiting are not automatically break - the mode switch must reflect what you are actually doing.
Worked example - a legal morning. You start at 06:00. Drive 06:00–08:00 (2 hours). Take 15 minutes' break. Drive 08:15–10:45 (2.5 hours). You have now driven 4.5 hours, so a 30-minute break is due at 10:45 and must be taken in full. Driving on until 11:15 without the break would put you over the 4.5-hour limit. Note the order: 15 then 30 - a 30-minute break followed later by 15 does not satisfy the rule.
Tachograph practice
- Insert your driver card before moving off and use manual entries when you started work before inserting it, for example after a ferry or a night in the cab.
- Carry enough printouts to cover the current day and the previous 28 days; produce them on request.
- Never drive on another driver's card, and never leave the card in while someone else drives.
Documents to carry
- Driving licence, driver CPC card, community licence, vehicle registration, insurance, periodic inspection report.
- CMR consignment note for international carriage; ADR certificate and instructions in writing when carrying dangerous goods.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating a full 45-minute break as interchangeable with 15 + 30 in any order.
- Counting time spent supervising loading as break when you were not free to dispose of your time.
- Forgetting manual entries, which then appear as unexplained gaps at a check.
- Mixing up weekly driving (56 hours) with the two-week total (90 hours).