• SECTOR GUIDE
Plant hire, skip hire, tankers, recovery, agriculture and more - if it’s plated above 3.5t, carries a tachograph, and does not fall under any vehicle type or specific exemption the drivers' hours and Working Time rules apply, even when the work doesn't look like traditional haulage.
Operators in these sectors are often least sure whether the regulations affect them, and that uncertainty is exactly where problems start.
Whatever you run, Tacho Agent will tell you precisely which rules apply, analyse your data for infringements, and keep you compliant. Not sure if this is you? Start with a free compliance report - we'll help you find out.
• THE RISKS
The issues that most often catch operators out.
Many operators don't realise their vehicles are in scope at all.
Specialist-vehicle exemptions are narrow and easily misapplied.
Even infrequent in-scope journeys must be recorded correctly.
Staff who run plant or equipment and also drive blur the duty and rest picture.
• TAILORED GUIDANCE
In-depth guidance written for your sector.
• REFERENCE GUIDES
Full regulation references that apply across every sector.
• COMMON QUESTIONS
Quick answers to what operators ask us most.
It's determined by where the vehicle goes.
Assimilated (EU) rules cover goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes operating within the UK and vehicles over 2.5 tonnes used for hire or reward travelling between the UK and EU (bar specific exemptions); AETR rules take over for international journeys that start, end or transit through no EU member states.
GB domestic rules fill the gap wherever neither of the other two applies.
For domestic hire-or-reward work, the threshold sits at 3.5 tonnes. Since 21 May 2022, that scope has widened to also catch light goods vehicles of 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes maximum laden weight when used internationally for hire or reward, reflecting commitments under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Standard, in nearly every case. Skip hire is a service provided to paying customers, which is exactly the hire-or-reward scenario the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 reserves for a standard licence rather than a restricted one.
Generally yes - skip operators are collecting and transporting other people’s controlled waste, which calls for upper-tier registration as a waste carrier with the Environment Agency under the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, on top of (not instead of) Traffic Commissioner operator licensing.
Not as a general rule.
Commercial and construction skip collection falls outside the household-refuse exemption at 13(1)(h), so above 3.5 tonnes the ordinary EU/GB drivers’ hours and tachograph rules apply in full.
It depends on the type of waste, not simply on whether it's mixed.
Under the Article 13(1)(h) household refuse derogation, DVSA guidance confirms that domestic-type waste collected from commercial premises doesn't need to be mixed with household waste to qualify - it can be collected on its own.
What removes the exemption is waste that isn't "domestic type" in nature - for example waste generated by a manufacturing process, because it must be similar to household waste, collected door-to-door in the same way, without a special collection regime, and using the same vehicles.
A skip run carrying genuine trade or industrial waste would likely fail this test regardless of whether it's mixed with household waste, and the operation must in any case be run by, or under contract to, a public authority.
• FIRST REPORT FREE
A free, no-obligation compliance report based on your own tachograph
data — with the issues found and plain-English actions to fix them.