The rules governing drivers’ hours for some vehicles, including those used to carry live animals from farms to local markets or abattoirs, are set to change in March 2015.
From March 2, next year, the introduction of a new European regulation will result in some vehicles no longer having to be fitted with tachograph recording equipment, leading in turn to the drivers concerned having to comply with GB drivers’ hours rules, instead of the EC drivers’ hour rules under which they’re currently controlled.
The new regulation increases the journey distance for exemptions from 50km to 100km from the operator’s base, provided the vehicles, or vehicle and trailer combinations, involved fall within a maximum weight of 7,500kg.
Categories covered by the regulation include:
- vehicles used to carry materials, equipment or machinery for the driver’s use in the course of his work and when driving the vehicle is not the driver’s main activity,
- vehicles used to carry goods and which are propelled by natural or liquefied gas or electricity,
- vehicles used to carry live animals from farms to local markets, or from markets to local farms or slaughterhouses.