Drivers' Hours & Tachograph Rules Explained: EU 561, GB Domestic and AETR

Most UK goods vehicle operations over 3.5 tonnes fall under retained EU Regulation 561/2006 (the same core rules that applied under EU law, now retained in GB law post-Brexit) for journeys within the UK and EU/EEA.

A journey outside the EU/EEA to another AETR contracting party runs under the AETR agreement instead — broadly similar limits, with its own detail.

Certain vehicles and operations are exempt from EU 561 (some specialist, short-distance or low-mileage exemptions) and fall instead under the GB domestic drivers' hours rules, which are structured differently — a straightforward daily driving and working-day limit rather than the EU pattern of daily/weekly/fortnightly limits and rest requirements.

Getting this wrong in either direction is a genuine risk — treating a GB-domestic journey as EU-regulated (or vice versa) means analysing it, and potentially defending it, against the wrong rule.

Daily driving is limited to 9 hours, extendable to 10 hours twice in a week. Weekly driving is capped at 56 hours, and a fortnight's driving across two consecutive weeks can't exceed 90 hours.

A break of at least 45 minutes is needed after 4.5 hours of accumulated driving (splittable as 15 then 30 minutes).

Daily rest is normally at least 11 hours, reducible to 9 hours up to three times between weekly rests. Weekly rest is at least 45 hours, reducible to 24 hours under conditions, with a compensation requirement for the reduction.

In our experience advising operators, the most common source of infringements isn't a driver deliberately pushing limits — it's a missed manual entry, a card not inserted promptly, a split-break miscounted, or a reduced weekly rest that was never compensated for within the required window. These are exactly the kind of pattern that's easy to miss reading tachograph downloads by eye, and straightforward to catch with a proper analysis engine.

A drivers' hours infringement isn't just a potential fixed penalty at the roadside — a pattern of infringements is exactly the kind of evidence a Traffic Commissioner looks for when considering whether a Transport Manager is genuinely exercising continuous and effective management, and whether the operator's good repute is still intact.