Just been reading about new driver hours article old jan 22 I could not help but laugh says you can ONLY drive NINE hours a day and ONLY 10 hours Twice a week I like the only bit .these people are a joke it is 2022 and they go on about safety the fines dished out to drivers are through the roof , why will they not have a realistic look at hours …or is it the money
What do you suggest it should be?
I’ve never driven for 9 hrs in a day so I can’t really say, but if you were used to it and had nothing else to do in the day, it doesn’t sound unreasonable?
Also sounds reasonable to have a little leeway on top of the 9 hrs for traffic etc.
The regs really need revamping and some time ago there were some good ideas of how by a mixture of UK regs and EU regs
stu675:
Also sounds reasonable to have a little leeway on top of the 9 hrs for traffic etc.
Tother way round. Allow a bit of slack for traffic etc, so assume an 8hr30 drive. Dont plan on 9.
stu675:
I’ve never driven for 9 hrs in a day so I can’t really say, but if you were used to it and had nothing else to do in the day, it doesn’t sound unreasonable?
There I more or less agree.
If it is all main road stuff then 8hr59, or 9hr59, driving can be easier than half that time in bad traffic.
But the OP
fuse:
an ONLY drive NINE hours a day and ONLY 10 hours Twice
is dead right. Isn`t that a full work day for any reasonable person? I realise others work even more but that is a sign of the direction working days for many, even with all the automation we have are getting no shorter.
ROG:
The regs really need revamping and some time ago there were some good ideas of how by a mixture of UK regs and EU regs
UK regs are even worse, especially in regards to the amount of time you can drive both daily and without a break, and definitely in regards to weekly rest periods.
The issue in the industry is the fact that doing a 13 or 15 hour day leaves very little time to travel, be refreshed and eat shower ■■■■ and sleep. That is the problem with long hours not the actual drive time. Also the tipping times to get tipped are the other issue, which is why so many drivers end up close to max hours a day or even stuck out over nighting when it’s not needed.
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simcor:
The issue in the industry is the fact that doing a 13 or 15 hour day leaves very little time to travel, be refreshed and eat shower [zb] and sleep. That is the problem with long hours not the actual drive time. Also the tipping times to get tipped are the other issue, which is why so many drivers end up close to max hours a day or even stuck out over nighting when it’s not needed.Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Yep…It used to be a 12 and a half hour spreadover…
Enough for anybody and conducive with the otherwise oh sooooo important H&S ‘they’ otherwise prioritise on.
A start would be disallowing a 9 hours off if you go home and re.start from home, then sort out the rest of the complete outdated cluster ■■■■ of long hours and insufficient rest period ratio.
The only problem is drivers…some absolute clowns would gladly do 23 on and 1 off if they were allowed to. 
Should get rid of the driving times fullstop and go off a tweaked wtd. After all driving is working.
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simcor:
The issue in the industry is the fact that doing a 13 or 15 hour day leaves very little time to travel, be refreshed and eat shower [zb] and sleep. That is the problem with long hours not the actual drive time. Also the tipping times to get tipped are the other issue, which is why so many drivers end up close to max hours a day or even stuck out over nighting when it’s not needed.Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
It a limit not a target
mark1284:
Should get rid of the driving times fullstop and go off a tweaked wtd. After all driving is working.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Which rules in particular? 6 hours straight without a break? The ability to opt out?
i remember a campaign im sure was in the 90’s aimed at motorists saying you shouldnt drive for more than 2 hours straight. yet we are expected to keep a higher level of concentraition for more than double that.
Should it be increased or decreased is for brighter minds than me to decide.
Yes we are treated poorly and yes things should improve and yes we have crap to put up with
robroy:
simcor:
The issue in the industry is the fact that doing a 13 or 15 hour day leaves very little time to travel, be refreshed and eat shower [zb] and sleep. That is the problem with long hours not the actual drive time. Also the tipping times to get tipped are the other issue, which is why so many drivers end up close to max hours a day or even stuck out over nighting when it’s not needed.Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Yep…It used to be a 12 and a half hour spreadover…
Enough for anybody and conducive with the otherwise oh sooooo important H&S ‘they’ otherwise prioritise on.A start would be disallowing a 9 hours off if you go home and re.start from home, then sort out the rest of the complete outdated cluster [zb] of long hours and insufficient rest period ratio.
The only problem is drivers…some absolute clowns would gladly do 23 on and 1 off if they were allowed to.
not being arrgumentative here but i belive you used to be an owner driver? Knowing what you know now would you work the same way as you did then or would you change things to how you work now if you had your own company now
stu675:
I’ve never driven for 9 hrs in a day so I can’t really say, but if you were used to it and had nothing else to do in the day, it doesn’t sound unreasonable?
Nothing else to do in the day? No life outside of work? That’s how many drivers are already treated, and one of the reasons why younger people look at the industry and think ‘rowlocks to that for a game of soldiers’
It’s just the same as someone writing only at the end of a million pound cheque, don’t se the issue
cooper1203:
robroy:
simcor:
The issue in the industry is the fact that doing a 13 or 15 hour day leaves very little time to travel, be refreshed and eat shower [zb] and sleep. That is the problem with long hours not the actual drive time. Also the tipping times to get tipped are the other issue, which is why so many drivers end up close to max hours a day or even stuck out over nighting when it’s not needed.Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk
Yep…It used to be a 12 and a half hour spreadover…
Enough for anybody and conducive with the otherwise oh sooooo important H&S ‘they’ otherwise prioritise on.A start would be disallowing a 9 hours off if you go home and re.start from home, then sort out the rest of the complete outdated cluster [zb] of long hours and insufficient rest period ratio.
The only problem is drivers…some absolute clowns would gladly do 23 on and 1 off if they were allowed to.
not being arrgumentative here but i belive you used to be an owner driver? Knowing what you know now would you work the same way as you did then or would you change things to how you work now if you had your own company now
My time of being an owner driver was 80s into early 90s, the whole job was a complete different ball game in those days, black and white chalk and cheese or any other cliche you can think of.
It was basically a free for all, hours were fiddled as a routine matter of course.
Now I would hate to go back to those days, but today is the complete antithesis of those days in terms of how things are regulated, , the over complicated drivers hours rules, and pedantic laws with heavy penalties…not to mention the cash cow the industry has become where they are sucking the juice out of it to make every penny out of you under the guise of…‘‘road safety’’ .
(Which is suitably ignored btw when it suits them …eg hours relaxation in what they see as a crisis )
So after all that lot said 
…I would rather stick pins in my eyes than start up as an owner driver today, or own a small haulage business , but in the event of me having some kind of wild mental issue and doing so, the answers to your questions are…
Given the chance to go back in time I would not start up at all…, but if I did I would work the same way yes, , as I would be back to being young, keen, ( and a tad naive,) but looking back it was a bit daft going like ■■■■ all the time to get that extra load in.
No I would not do things today as I did then ,.I’d be stupid to even try , I would need to adapt to the times,.but with the examples I gave of today’s industry, I would not make as much money as I did in those days.
A 4 hour plus drive each way is something I do occasionally and of course this can end up being longer due to diversions or traffic.
Being able to single day a run like this is extremely useful to some transport operations, no doubt.
Doing this once or twice a week is certainly realistic, but if it involves night driving, it is a little more challenging.
There is a provision for night drivers to only do 10 hour shifts, but often I find this is overruled by a collective agreement.
It isn’t difficult to see a situation where a driver ends up doing a 15 hour shift, goes home and can’t get a decent rest due to trying to sleep during the day.
If the 10 hour rule is a rule, why can it be opted out of? (Kind of rhetorical question btw)
There is a lot of night time transport in operation, sometimes not because the goods need to be transported at night, but because it is desirable to have the vehicles working 24/7 from a cost perspective. To me, insisting on drivers doing 8-9 hour drives during night hours in the full knowledge that they will struggle to sleep during the day is a total disregard to road safety, yet apparently drivers’ unions sign up to this all the time. In addition, apparently there is a seemingly never-ending supply of drivers seduced by night rates willing to do it.
Zac_A:
stu675:
I’ve never driven for 9 hrs in a day so I can’t really say, but if you were used to it and had nothing else to do in the day, it doesn’t sound unreasonable?Nothing else to do in the day? No life outside of work? That’s how many drivers are already treated, and one of the reasons why younger people look at the industry and think ‘rowlocks to that for a game of soldiers’
No, I meant nothing else in the work day like 9 hrs driving plus multidrop other work.
So 9 hrs drive= 9ish hrs shift = reasonable
9 hrs drive +6 hrs other work= killer [emoji22]
I suppose the question is how can it change, how can the business survive if they changed the law
A lot of the additional hours is waiting time, you could just do 6 hours driving and still end up doing a 12 or 13 hour day
If you like being away then the ideal job would be long distance on the continent, most days just doing your 9 hour drive, one drop with little down time, I know it’s not all like that it’s depends how far you go
It will never change with no unity or body to organise any thing close to improving conditions
It’s a job and it pays the bills and a lot of people get a good living out of it but the law is a joke letting a hgv driver do 15 hours a day
Most of my HGV jobs have included a large amount of other work, mostly hiab which usually works out 50/50 driving/OW, at best I’d say it was about 65/35. I’ve had very very few driving days where’s it’s drive/drop/return in a space of a nine hour working day, sounds quite luxurious really.
Bigtruck3:
It will never change with no unity or body to organise any thing close to improving conditionsthe law is a joke letting a hgv driver do 15 hours a day
+1