L4 Logistics | Transport Shipping and Logistics News

Successful outcomes include: • The decision to retain the 11 hour daily rest requirement and abandon the proposal to increase this to 12 hours • The abandonment of a proposed complex incremental table for breaks from driving. This has been replaced with a compromise solution where the 45 minute break can be replaced by one break of 15 minutes followed by a further break of 30 minutes taken during and at the end of four and a half hours driving • The re-instatement of exemptions/derogations that the Commission had planned to withdraw. FTA successfully fought and retained exemption for a number of unique operations and in particular the supply of gas, electricity and telecommunications. However these exemptions will no longer be automatically provided by Europe and it will be for the Department for Transport to decide if these essential services should continue to be exempt in the UK.The European Parliament, Council of Ministers and Commission had to reach a common position on the proposed changes to EU driver’s hours rules and although Parliament supported FTA’s views that the requirements for weekly rest did not need changing, the Council of Ministers' failed to take the issue and its implications on board. Therefore a full 45 hours weekly rest must be taken in any two weeks - effectively meaning that drivers will be restricted to a five day working week on alternate weeks.Joan Williams, FTA Head of Road Freight Policy said, ‘There is no justification for putting an end to reducing rest on consecutive weeks. It will result in the loss of productivity and much needed flexibility to spread the already restricted driving and work time over six days. This will have a serious impact on many freight transport sectors and ironically comes at a time when Government is actively urging the industry to improve productivity.’While FTA is very disappointed by this decision on the weekly rest, it is important to remember that this is actually an improvement on the original proposal that would have completely put an end to reducing weekly rest at base. This is only one of a number of areas where extensive lobbying successfully minimised the worst effects of damaging proposals.Source: FTA