Appendix 2: Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs (Temporary Exceptions) (No.3) Regulations 2021
Supplementary information regarding the Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs (Temporary Exceptions) (No. 3) Regulations 2021
Enforcement of the relaxations
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is responsible for the enforcement of drivers’ hours rules. The DVSA carries out targeted checks based on several factors. This includes the physical condition of the vehicle or its load, the Operator Compliance Risk Score (OCRS), and any intelligence the DVSA may have on a specific operator. This allows the DVSA to focus their checks on vehicles that are likely to have problems and so their enforcement figures are not representative of compliance across the wider UK fleet. For the period 12 July to 3 October, the DVSA undertook a total of 4,333 targeted checks on UK operators. As part of those checks, 1,168 offences were identified for drivers’ hours violations of which 187 were serious enough to attract a fixed penalty. These violation rates are consistent with previous periods.
For operators that notified the Department of their intent to make use of the relaxations, the DVSA applied the OCRS as part of undertaking targeted checks. This resulted in a total of 97 checks against operators that had notified the Department of their intent to use the relaxations over the period 12 July to 3 October. 53 offences for drivers’ hours were identified, of which 12 related to the relaxed rules, but none was sufficiently serious to warrant a fixed penalty.
Use of the relaxations
Table 2: The table below details the information the Department has received from operators in relation to the two previous relaxation periods.
12 July to 8 August |
9 August to 3 October |
|
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Initial notification forms |
517 |
283 |
|
Follow-up forms Of which used the relaxations Of which did not use the relaxations |
394 284 110 |
186 147 39 |
The initial notification forms were required to be submitted by operators to notify the Department of their intent to use the relaxations. Operators were then requested to send the Department a follow-up form within a week of the relaxation period ending detailing how they used the relaxations or whether they elected not to make use of them.
Targeted Consultation Results – Extending Drivers’ Hours temporary exceptions: Summary of Responses
As part of its considerations as to whether to extend exceptions to the drivers’ hours rules running from 12 July 2021 to 3 October 2021, the Department ran a targeted consultation from 15 September 2021 to 22 September 2021. The basis of the consultation was to gather up-to-date views and evidence on whether the Department should extend the temporary exceptions to 23 January 2022.
The consultation was circulated to key stakeholders, including haulage operators and their trade bodies, trade unions representing lorry drivers, food wholesalers and distributors, supermarkets, fuel/oil suppliers, and road safety advocate groups. In total, there were 18 responses of which 13 directly answered the questions in the consultation. The other 5 responded with letters on the topic but did not specifically answer the questions in the consultation.
Those responses included haulage stakeholders representing operators and drivers of heavy goods vehicles. On our proposals to extend the drivers’ hours relaxation, haulage stakeholders disagreed, citing driver fatigue, limited usefulness afforded by the relaxation, and worsening of the current situation by encouraging drivers to leave the industry. In addition, they expressed broad consensus that current measures would be insufficient to maintain safety standards for all road users due to negative impacts to driver health and increase in fatigue.
To note: the drivers’ hours relaxation requires compensatory rest when the options to amend weekly rest patterns is taken. This is designed to combat cumulative fatigue and is very similar to a provision in force across the UK and EU permanently for some international driving.
For the other non-standard pattern available, a tenth hour of driving on a third and fourth day in a week – which is an alternative, and cannot be taken as well as the revised weekly rest pattern – this is already available two days a week under normal rules and more so under normal GB domestic rules. In this case short, daily and weekly rest periods; weekly (56 hours) and fortnightly (90 hours) maximum driving hours; and all mobile working time rules continue as standard. These guard against excessive fatigue.
On alternative measures to address the driver shortage, one haulage stakeholder stated that suspending the Driver Certificate Professional Competence (CPC) requirement and increasing efficiency at Regional Distribution Centres would be more effective than drivers’ hours relaxations. Another haulage stakeholder instead focused on the need to improve working conditions for drivers, highlighting the need to improve facilities, parking, and working hours. They also state the onus is on industry to improve conditions for drivers and that has this has been a problem since at least 2016 this is a problem that could have been foreseen. Trade unions raised concerns that this is no longer a temporary relaxation and are becoming long term measures. All believe that it makes the problem worse by making the industry less appealing to new drivers, worsen gender disparity, and would make older drivers want to leave the industry. Finally, they all agree that this increases significant risks for road users and that asking operators and self-employed drivers to “assess the risk of using the temporary exceptions”, does not sufficiently protect drivers’ safety. One particular trade union made reference to a study that found that intense shift patterns and inadequate rest time ‘suggest that many [UK] HGV drivers have increased risk of excessive daytime sleepiness, road traffic accidents and chronic disease.’
To note: there is published guidance about the circumstances in which the temporary relaxations can be used. There must be evidence of detriment to the wider community, that the relaxation leads to a significant improvement and that driver safety must not be compromised. In respect of detriment and safety there are specific benchmarks.
This is one measure amongst many being taken in respect of lorry driver shortages.
Questions on extending Drivers’ Hours temporary exceptions |
Key findings |
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Q1. Do you think that the drivers hours rules relaxation should be extended, as they are, beyond 3 October 2021? |
7 of the 13 respondents disagreed that the extensions should be extended. All 7 of these were either from Unions or Haulage Associations. Of the 6 that agreed the majority were stakeholders that supply agricultural products and 3 of the 6 said it provided extra flexibility. All 5 of the respondents that responded with letters on the topic disagreed that the extensions should be extended, giving a total of 12 out of 18 respondents that did not support an extension. |
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Q2. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposed length of the extension? |
7 of the 13 respondents disagreed, highlighting concerns of driver fatigue, it made no useful impact and had a negative impact on driver welfare. 5 of the 13 respondents agreed that the period was suitable as the period is known to be significantly busier during the year. One made no comment. |
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Q3. To what extent do you agree or disagree that any continuation of relaxations should be applied to the whole haulage sector? |
6 of the 13 respondents disagreed with the majority stating it wouldn’t add any benefit. 6 of the 13 respondents agreed stating that it would assist logistics as the tool would be available to everyone. |
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Q4. Are there any new concerns that would warrant a continuation of relaxations that have not been covered previously? |
9 of the 13 respondents stated there were no concerns. 2 respondents stated yes saying the shortage of HGV drivers was impacting them and that as hauliers do not take advantage due to admin costs then the relaxations should be made law. 2 no comments. |
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Q5. Do you agree or disagree that the use of Drivers’ Hours relaxations has allowed for greater flexibility in deliveries? |
7 of the 13 respondents disagreed. The majority stated the relaxations were not used. 4 of the respondents agreed with half saying they provided extra flexibility. 2 made no comments. |
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Q6. Are there any other potential costs and impacts of maintaining the drivers’ hours relaxations that we should consider? |
5 of the 13 respondents stated no. 6 of the 13 respondents stated yes, stating that drivers were more likely to leave, increased administration costs, increased costs for customers and increased pressure from customers to make use of relaxations 2 respondents provided no comments. |
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Q7. Would you like to make any other comments relevant to the amended policy? |
[Stakeholder 1] – work is limited to farm hours and working hours of end destination means relaxations have limited impacts. Sugar beet season increases demand for HGV drivers with training for TASCC. [Stakeholder 2] – Consumers need greater education to better perception of lorry drivers. [Stakeholder 3] – There is increased wastage and also animal welfare implications due to the HGV Drivers’ shortage. The government measures to help reduce the back log of HGV driver testing and some support measures to encourage new entrants into the sector it is likely that the current driver shortages will remain for considerable time to come. They support measures such as an extension to the current drivers’ hours relaxations to help make best use of the available workforce on condition that road safety is maintained. [Stakeholder 4] – every tool should be made available to tackle the issue. Preference would be for the option for the requirement to take a regular weekly rest period of 45 hours in a two-week period with an alternative pattern of weekly rest periods, and an increase to the fortnightly driving limit from 90 hours to 99 hours. This enables two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods to be taken. [Stakeholder 5] – anticipate increase demand over Christmas and already have a significant demand. |
Source: DfT
18 October 2021