Tachograph compliance for waste and recycling fleets

It  isn’t.

Under GB domestic rules, time spent driving off the public road for  building work, civil engineering, quarrying, forestry or agriculture is left  out of the driving-time tally, though it’s still recorded as duty.

The  carve-out comes from Part VI of the Transport Act 1968, which underpins the  GB domestic drivers’ hours regime.

Not automatically.

The standard 45-minute break after four-and-a-half hours’ driving (or the 15+30 split) applies regardless of how the route is broken up, and a stop only counts towards it if the driver is genuinely free of all duties at the time.

Once a vehicle carrying your own goods passes 3.5 tonnes, a restricted O-licence is needed.

Section 2(1) of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995 makes it an offence to use a goods vehicle on the road for hire or reward, or for a trade or business, without a licence, and section 3(3) sets out when that licence has to be the restricted type.

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.

That hinges on whose waste it is. Collecting for a local authority or another customer in exchange for payment calls for a standard licence, while only ever collecting waste the operator itself generated would meet the restricted-licence test instead.