The Department for Transport has, pursuant to Article 14(1) of the retained EU Drivers’ Hours Regulation, gained the approval of the Secretary of State for Transport to extend the temporary relaxation of the enforcement of the retained EU drivers’ hours Regulation in England, Scotland and Wales, until 9 January 2022.
This is due to the exceptional circumstances arising from the cumulative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the acute shortage of HGV drivers in Great Britain, which continues to adversely affect the carriage of goods by road, causing acute supply chain pressures. This is being compounded by seasonal increases in demand in the build-up to and through the Christmas period. Supply chains are also exposed to higher levels of risks of disruption in the event of unforeseen circumstances, such as adverse winter weather or consumer behaviour.
Please see link below to the updated notification for details:
The Department for Transport team want to emphasise that as the drivers’ hours rules are an important road safety measure, the temporary relaxation to the rules must only be used where necessary. To help drivers and transport operators decide whether their transport operation would be deemed as necessary, the Department has issued guidance in the notification on the three conditions which should be met.
Although this will extend the relaxation that began on 4 October 2021 without a gap, it is considered as a separate period and so will require a separate initial notification form to be sent to the Department. Please note that you still need to send the Department the follow-up form for the former relaxation after the 31 October 2021 (but by 7 November 2021), giving details of if/how the relaxation was used, how you assessed the risks, and what control measure you had in place to ensure safety.
