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How to tell which drivers’ hours rules apply - out of scope, GB domestic or assimilated EU - and the exemptions UK operators most often get wrong.
QUICK ANSWER
Every HGV and PSV operation in Great Britain sits under one of three drivers’ hours regimes: fully out of scope (no drivers’ hours rules at all), the GB domestic rules, or the assimilated rules (the retained version of the EU rules, Regulation (EC) 561/2006 as it has effect in the UK). An “exemption” almost always means a vehicle drops out of the stricter assimilated rules and into the GB domestic rules, not that it escapes regulation entirely.
And even where the drivers’ hours rules genuinely don’t apply, working time limits and record-keeping duties often still do. Getting this wrong carries its own risk: wrongly assuming an exemption applies is itself treated as a breach, and the burden is on you to show the conditions were met.
Most exemption questions turn on a handful of numbers. Use this as a quick reference; each one is explained in context below.
The first question is never “which exemption do I use?” It’s “which regime am I in?” Work that out and everything else follows, including whether a tachograph must be fitted and used, and what kind of record you have to keep.
The table shows the goods-vehicle figures. Passenger vehicles follow the same three-regime logic but with different thresholds and limits - see Where passenger vehicles (PSVs) sit, below.
A vehicle is outside the drivers’ hours rules altogether in cases such as these:
One important caveat: a driver who is otherwise in scope of the assimilated rules must still record any off-road driving as “other work.” Being out of scope for the driving limits is not the same as being out of scope for records. This “never carries goods” position also does not cover repositioning a vehicle between two legs of a journey that is itself in scope.
If a goods vehicle is exempt from the assimilated rules but is still used on the road for work, it almost always falls under the GB domestic rules, set out in the Transport Act 1968. The headline limits are simpler: a maximum of 10 hours’ daily driving and 11 hours’ daily duty. There are no prescribed breaks or rest periods, but employers must still ensure “adequate rest” under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
A small number of operations are exempt even from the GB domestic rules: vehicles used by the armed forces, the police and the fire brigade; drivers who always drive off the public road; and genuinely private driving not connected with earning a living.
These apply to most goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes maximum permissible weight (including any trailer), used wholly within the UK or over 2.5 tonnes between the UK and the EU. Vehicles in scope must have a tachograph fitted and in use. Journeys beyond the UK and EU fall under AETR rules.
A goods vehicle at or below 3.5 tonnes is outside the assimilated rules, but that does not mean no rules apply.
The assimilated rules bite only above 3.5 tonnes maximum permissible weight, including train weight, in the UK. A van at or below that weight is therefore out of scope of the assimilated rules. In practice, it usually falls under the GB domestic rules instead, so “it’s under 3.5 tonnes” is not the free pass it’s often assumed to be.
Regulation updates in force from 1st July 2026 now affect vans, light vehicles and combinations of 2.5t-3.5t used for hire or reward on international journeys to and from the EU with further operator licensing and record retention requirements, so the base line weight is now 2.5 tonnes for any international work.
The van-and-trailer trap. The 3.5-tonne line is a combination figure. A car-derived or panel van that is itself under 3.5 tonnes can be pulled into the assimilated rules once a trailer takes the combined maximum authorised mass over 3,500 kg and the vehicle is used commercially. This catches a lot of operators who assume the van’s own plated weight is the only number that matters.
This is a recent and easily missed change. From 1 June 2026, certain zero-emission goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 4.25 tonnes are exempt in Great Britain from the assimilated drivers’ hours and tachograph rules. The extra weight comes from the battery, so the law now treats them broadly like an equivalent diesel or petrol van of 3.5 tonnes. They move into the GB domestic rules, and unlike the older alternative-fuel derogation, there is no 100 km distance limit. The change came in through the Goods Vehicles (Testing, Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2026.
One important carve-out: a zero-emission vehicle in this 3.5–4.25t band used on journeys between Great Britain and Northern Ireland still needs a tachograph and stays in scope of the drivers’ hours rules unless another exemption applies. Operators with mixed diesel/electric fleets should also watch the boundary, since two similar vans on the same yard can now sit under different regimes.
Buses, coaches and minibuses follow the same three-regime logic as goods vehicles, but the thresholds turn on passenger seats, route length and commercial status, not vehicle weight.
The starting point is the number of passenger seats, including the driver:
The 50 km regular-service rule is the one most PSV operators rely on. A regular passenger service whose route does not exceed 50 km falls outside the assimilated rules and into GB domestic rules. The route length is measured by the service route itself. Dead mileage running to and from the depot at the start or end of the day is not counted.
Under the GB domestic rules for passenger vehicles, the headline limits differ from the goods figures: a maximum of 10 hours’ daily driving and a working day (spreadover) of no more than 16 hours, with at least 10 hours’ rest between working days (reducible to 8.5 hours up to three times a week) and breaks based on the length of the day. Note too that there are no record-keeping requirements under the GB domestic rules for PSVs, though a driver who does any assimilated or AETR driving that day must still produce their card and records for that work.
Many of the goods exemptions have passenger equivalents (40 km/h vehicles, emergency and rescue, road-test and maintenance, historic and non-commercial vehicles, public-authority operations and the like).
These exemptions apply both on journeys wholly within the UK and on journeys between the UK and the EU. A qualifying vehicle normally drops into the GB domestic rules for the GB leg. The exemptions most likely to be relevant to operators include:
Each comes with precise conditions - meeting the vehicle description alone is not enough.
National derogations work like exemptions, but apply only on journeys wholly within the UK. Never on UK-EU journeys.
Those most relevant to the sectors we work with include:
These are the ones a haulage, waste, construction or utilities operator is most likely to meet. Several others exist: milk collection, circus and funfair equipment, driving instruction, Royal Mail (as universal service provider), island operations and more.
Waste operators should read the refuse derogation closely, because it is narrower than it looks. To qualify, the work should be carried out by a public authority or by a contractor to one; it should be the primary, door-to-door collection of household-type waste, with the transport remaining subsidiary to the collection; and journeys should not normally exceed a 50 km radius from base. Collecting genuine commercial or trade waste, for example waste from a manufacturing process, falls outside of it.
“Driving isn’t my main job” is not, by itself, an exemption. It is one condition inside a specific small-vehicle exemption, and only one.
This is one of the most misunderstood points in the whole area. There is a genuine exemption for vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes used to carry materials, equipment or machinery for the driver’s own use in the course of their work, think an electrician or builder carrying tools and materials to a job. But it applies only if all of these hold:
The same structure covers goods produced on a craft basis (baking, furniture-making, pottery and the like) delivered within the same limits. Take any one condition away (over 7.5 tonnes, beyond 100 km, or carried for hire or reward) and the exemption falls away. A scaffolding or removals firm carrying customers’ goods for payment will not qualify on this route, however incidental the driving feels.
A worked example. An electrician driving a 3.5-tonne van with a trailer of their own tools and cable to a job 60 km away, as an incidental part of doing electrical work, is likely within this exemption. The same electrician asked to run a paid delivery of a customer’s materials across the county is not. That carriage is for reward, and may be their main activity for the trip. The facts of each journey decide it.
Several exemptions turn on the carriage being “non-commercial” - a narrow, specific definition, not a loose one.
Non-commercial carriage means carriage that is not for hire or reward and not on own account, generates no direct or indirect income for the driver or anyone else, and is not linked to any professional or commercial activity. Moving your own household, or transporting horses not used for competition or a rally car for a hobby in a vehicle up to 7.5 tonnes, can be non-commercial. The moment the trip is connected to a business, including “on own account” carriage of a firm’s own goods, it is not.
Recovery and workshop scenarios have their own exemptions, but they hinge on the vehicle being genuinely “specialised.”
A specialised breakdown vehicle operating within a 100 km radius of base is exempt. In case law, “specialised breakdown vehicle” means one whose construction and permanent fittings show it is mainly for removing vehicles that have recently broken down or been in a collision, not just any vehicle pressed into a recovery job. Vehicles undergoing road tests for repair or maintenance, and new or rebuilt vehicles not yet in service, are also exempt, but driving to or from a testing station for the annual test is not covered.
Two practical points operators get wrong. First, a relay recovery can keep each vehicle within its own 100 km radius. However, a single long tow, or a tow-dolly job that runs beyond 100 km from base, may need a tachograph if the combination exceeds 3.5 tonnes and no other exemption applies. Second, there is no general “mobile workshop” exemption. A workshop van may fit the materials/equipment exemption or a listed maintenance derogation, but only if those exact conditions are met. A label on the side of the vehicle is not enough.
This is the single most important point on the page. Falling outside the drivers’ hours rules does not switch off the working time rules, and it rarely switches off record-keeping either.
Two separate regimes are at work:
So a vehicle can be exempt from the 561/2006 driving limits and still sit squarely within a working time regime. Record obligations can also still apply: under the GB domestic rules, written records are generally required where the vehicle needs an operator’s licence and the driver drives more than 4 hours that day.
An exemption from the driving limits does not always switch off record-keeping. Work out what you still have to record before you assume there’s nothing to keep.
In broad terms:
Before relying on any exemption, confirm three things: the regime, the exact conditions, and the records you still owe.
This is exactly the kind of judgement that proper tachograph analysis is designed to support. Tacho Agent's role is to check the data and identify the infringements in it, so the question 'do the rules actually apply here?' is answered from the records, not from assumption.
This article is provided for general guidance only and reflects our understanding of the rules as they apply in Great Britain as at the date shown on this page. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice tailored to your specific operation.
Drivers' hours, tachograph, working time and operator licensing rules are detailed and change over time, and some requirements differ in Northern Ireland and for international journeys. Always check the current guidance on GOV.UK and the underlying legislation on legislation.gov.uk, and consult your transport manager or a qualified compliance professional before acting.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Tacho Agent Ltd accepts no liability for any loss arising from action taken, or not taken, in reliance on this article. Nothing here excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence or for fraud. Use of this article is also governed by our Terms of Use.
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