Citation, commencement, extent and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs (Temporary Exceptions) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 and come into force on 1st November 2021.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

(3) In these Regulations—

“domestic goods transport operations” means the carriage by road of goods exclusively within Great Britain;

“Drivers’ Hours Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15th March 2006 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport;

“exceptional circumstances” means the circumstances arising from the cumulative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and an acute shortage of goods vehicle drivers, which adversely affect the carriage by road of goods;

“relaxation period” means the period beginning with 1st November 2021 and ending with 9th January 2022;

“temporary exception” means an exception to certain provisions of the Drivers’ Hours Regulation provided for in regulations 3 and 4.

Application of temporary exceptions

2. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a driver may rely on a temporary exception—

(a) where the driver is engaged in domestic goods transport operations during the relaxation period;

(b) where that driver has reasonable grounds to believe that there are exceptional circumstances which makes compliance with Articles 6 and 8 of the Drivers’ Hours Regulation not reasonably possible; and

(c) where that driver is driving a vehicle operated by a transport undertaking, that transport undertaking also has reasonable grounds to believe that there are exceptional circumstances which makes compliance with Articles 6 and 8 of the Drivers’ Hours Regulation not reasonably possible.

(2) A driver may rely on the temporary exception in regulation 3 or those in regulation 4 but not both.

Temporary exception to daily driving time

3. In relation to Article 6, in the second sentence of paragraph 1, the daily driving time may be extended to at most 10 hours not more than four times during the week.

Temporary exceptions to weekly driving time and rest periods

4. —(1) In relation to Article 6, in paragraph 3, where a driver relies on the exception in paragraph (2), the driver may exceed the total accumulated driving time during any two consecutive weeks of 90 hours by up to 9 hours.

(2) In relation to Article 8, in paragraph 6, a driver may take two reduced weekly rest periods of at least 24 hours followed by two regular weekly rest periods, provided that—

(a) any reduction in a weekly rest period shall be compensated for by an equivalent period of rest taken before the end of the third week following the week in question; and

(b) any rest taken as compensation for a reduced weekly rest period—

(i) must be taken as an extension to a regular weekly rest period, and

(ii) may be taken divided over two consecutive regular weekly rest periods.

Sunsetting of these Regulations

5. These Regulations cease to have effect on 10th January 2022.