Driving work · The tachograph · Bridge strikes
Drivers' working time
The 48 hour average is not measured week by week. It is measured across a reference period, and you cannot check your own average without knowing which period you are in and how many weeks it runs for. Almost nobody is told either.
Right now you are in period 3 of 2026
17
weeks in this period
15
weeks still to run
816
hours across the whole period
Monday 7 September 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027. Worked out from the rule when this page loaded, not copied from a table.
The limits
48 hours a week on average
Averaged across the whole reference period, not week by week. A heavy week is not a breach on its own, and a run of them is.
60 hours in any single week, absolutely
This one does not average. Sixty is the ceiling in any one week no matter how quiet the rest of the period has been.
10 hours in any 24 if you work at night
If any part of your work falls in the night period, your working time is capped at ten hours in that twenty four, unless a collective or workforce agreement says otherwise. For goods vehicles the night period is midnight to 4am.
A break before six hours are up
You cannot work more than six hours straight without one. Between six and nine hours of work, at least 30 minutes. Over nine hours, at least 45. It can be split, but no piece shorter than 15 minutes.
What counts, and what does not
The second column is where drivers are most often wrong, and it is worth real money over a period.
| Activity | Working time? |
|---|---|
| Driving All of it. |
Yes |
| Loading and unloading Whether or not you are the one lifting. |
Yes |
| Checks, fuelling, cleaning, paperwork Anything you have to do because of the job. |
Yes |
| Helping with the vehicle at a roadside stop | Yes |
| Work for ANOTHER employer It counts towards the same 48 hour average. A second job does not get its own allowance. |
Yes |
| Period of availability POA IS NOT WORKING TIME. This is the big one. Waiting where you knew the likely length in advance and were free to do as you liked, and the second seat on a double manned run, do not count towards the 48. |
No |
| Breaks and rest Not working time. |
No |
| Travel to and from home Unless you are travelling to a vehicle that is not at your normal base, which is a different question and worth asking about. |
No |
Ours, not the regulations'
You have to tell us about work you do for anybody else. Not because we are being nosy, but because the 48 hour average covers all of it and neither of us can work out your average without it. It is a written declaration, and it is on you to keep it current.
We will never ask you to record a period of availability that was really work. If a client is doing that, ring us.
If you are heading towards the limit we will tell you before you get there, not afterwards. A driver finding out from an audit is a failure of ours, not of theirs.
The periods, worked out to 2029
Each one begins at midnight on the first Monday on or after 1 January, 1 May and 1 September, and runs to the day before the next one starts. Between them they cover the year with no gap and no overlap.
2026
| Period | From | To | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 5 Jan 2026 | Sun 3 May 2026 | 17 |
| 2 | Mon 4 May 2026 | Sun 6 Sep 2026 | 18 |
| 3 | Mon 7 Sep 2026 | Sun 3 Jan 2027 | 17 |
2027
| Period | From | To | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 4 Jan 2027 | Sun 2 May 2027 | 17 |
| 2 | Mon 3 May 2027 | Sun 5 Sep 2027 | 18 |
| 3 | Mon 6 Sep 2027 | Sun 2 Jan 2028 | 17 |
2028
| Period | From | To | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 3 Jan 2028 | Sun 30 Apr 2028 | 17 |
| 2 | Mon 1 May 2028 | Sun 3 Sep 2028 | 18 |
| 3 | Mon 4 Sep 2028 | Sun 31 Dec 2028 | 17 |
2029
| Period | From | To | Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon 1 Jan 2029 | Sun 6 May 2029 | 18 |
| 2 | Mon 7 May 2029 | Sun 2 Sep 2029 | 17 |
| 3 | Mon 3 Sep 2029 | Sun 6 Jan 2030 | 18 |
Two things about this table
It works itself out. The dates and the week counts come from the rule above every time the page loads, so they cannot disagree with each other. A table typed once is a table that is wrong somewhere: the agency version we were shown has the dates right and then calls a 17 week period 18, and an 18 week period 17. Divide your hours by the printed number and your average comes out wrong.
The start dates are a choice, not the law. The reference period is normally 17 weeks and can be extended by agreement. Where the periods begin is set by your employer, so if you drive for somebody else their dates may be different. Ask them, and if they cannot tell you, that is worth knowing on its own.
Where this comes from
The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, which sit alongside the drivers' hours rules rather than replacing them. Where the two differ, the stricter one applies. This is a plain summary and not the regulations: where it and they differ, they win and we want to hear about it.
Know a driver who should read this? Sending it costs nothing and it is how a small board grows.
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