HGV Driver Rights

As a temporary worker in the driving industry it is important that you understand the Working Time Directive for HGV Drivers and how it and the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 regulations apply to you specifically.

All HGV driving hours are regulated by the Working Time Regulations for HGV Drivers and your temporary employment status has no bearing or effect on your working time rights.

If you drive a lorry over 3.5 tonnes i.e.:

• Category C1 - Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) weighing up to 7,500kg/7.5 tonne.
• Category C - rigid vehicles weighing over 7,500kg/7.5 tonne with trailers weighing up to 750kg.
• Category C+E - articulated vehicles in excess of 7,500kg/7.5 tonne with trailers weighing more than 750kg.

You must not work more than an average of 56 hours a week. This is averaged out over a 17-week period, with a maximum of 90 driving hours in any two week period.

The following additional rules on taking rest breaks when you are driving, also apply:

• After four and a half hours of driving, you must take a rest of 45 minutes.
• If you have been driving every day for six days, you must take a 24- hour rest.
• You must not drive for more than 90 hours in a two-week period.
• You must have a daily rest break of 11 hours (which can be reduced to a nine hour uninterrupted period up to three times in any week).

In addition to the Working Time Regulations, the Agency Workers Regulations also set out your rights as an Agency Worker.

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 are in place to govern the relationship between an operator, the temporary work agency and the worker.

The regulations set out the rights that agency workers are entitled to, including:

• Paid annual leave, rest breaks and limits on working time under the Working Time Regulations.
• No unlawful deductions from wages.
• To be paid at least the National Minimum Wage under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. Click here to see the current National Minimum Wage and use our salary calculator to check that you are being paid the correct amount.
• Equal discrimination rights under the Equality Act 2010.
• Protection of health and safety at work.

From their first day working for any company, an agency worker is entitled to access to the same facilities and amenities as employed staff. This includes car parking, canteen or similar facilities, transport services, food and drink machines, and staff rooms. This right does not extend to off-site facilities or benefits in kind, but a company does have the option to offer those to agency workers.

Regardless of whether an employee is a contracted full-time or part-time staff member, if they are on a short-term contract, or even working via a third party agency on temporary terms, everyone is governed by the same health and safety at work regulations.

Employers must ensure that all staff members are adequately trained to work safely and provided with the relevant equipment to work safely. They should also have knowledge of company procedures, how to access support and how to report any incidents and where to seek first aid assistance.

Temporary staff involved in any accident at work should follow the same steps as those of their permanently employed colleagues.

Hauliers must inform agency workers of any job vacancies they have so that the agency worker may apply if they wish to.

A grandfather clause (Grandfather Rights) is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Anyone exempt from the new rule are said to have grandfather rights.

In the driving industry, Grandfather Rights refers to 2009 when the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) was created.

As it was impractical to bind everyone to the new CPC rule and have all HGV Drivers cease driving until they had a CPC in place, the grandfather rule meant that anyone who had qualified before the Driver CPC came in would be automatically qualified under the new scheme. New drivers would be required to hold a CPC.