Eu law doesnt allow drivers to be retained firefighters due to 48 hour week and weekly rest periods.When i was in the RAF reserves,the talk then,was i could not do the two jobs,but then it was abolished allowing reserves and TA to serve in Iraq/Afghanistan and training weekends and day training classes in the UK.Firemen/women have to choose to stay in the fire serice or give up the driving job.At Somerset Standards weekly Frome`s local newspaper printed on the front page.Look at
www.thisissomerset.co.uk
Fire engine drivers are EU regs exempt so does that mean anyone who is not under those regs in their normal job can do it but those who come under EU regs in their normal job cannot ■■?
Appliance drivers get to drive after 4 years service.But for a firefighter who is not driving with the service,i am not sure how that works,with relation to the working week.Im guessing at a long fire at a weekend,then he/she has to jump in truck 3am monday morning after 2 hours sleep.
rdt ransport working time guidance
2.2
Working Time does not include:Routine travel between home and their normal place of work;
Rest and breaks when no work is done;
Periods of availability (see below);
Optional evening classes or day-release courses;
Voluntary work or time spent as a retained fire fighter, a special constable, or member of the reserve forces.
That’s the RTD covered
Now, is there anything in the tacho regs ? …
Thought - are retained fire fighters doing this voluntarily 
and if yes, would this be outside the regs… hmmm…
Something has changed as fire service staff at Frome fire station have staff that may have to leave,this may effect cover on the duty call out roster,which could lose lives in the long run.
I’ve asked a tacho regs GURU to try to help - they will be along as soon as they are able to
I don’t know if the exemption in the RTD regs also acts as an exemption for the tacho 561/2006 regs in regard to rest periods.
Have been involved with some of these discussions with different brigades. The difficulty is not RT(WT)R but the drivers hours regs contained in (EC)561/2006.
It is true that whilst on ‘fire duty’ drivers are exempt from the EU Regulation. They are also exempt from the British Domestic Hours Code. The problem occurs where appliance drivers (or crew) are retained firefighters who drive vehicles subject to EU hours as their main job. Their main difficulty lies with daily and weekly rest. We all know that rest = a period during which a driver may freely dispose of their time. Clearly if they are on duty as a retained firefighter, or Special Constable, they cannot be free to dispose of their time and therefore will end up with insufficient daily / weekly rest.
We looked at all sorts of complicated shift patterns, none of which worked in practise. It would appear that one way out of this may be for the brigades to approach the Commission to see if they can obtain a derogation similar to the one the Reserve Forces got earlier this year. Watch this space…In the meantime, it is very difficult for a full time driver to be a retained firefighter and remain legal as far as the EU drivers hours rules are concerned.
ROG:
I’ve asked a tacho regs GURU to try to help - they will be along as soon as they are able to
geebee45:
Have been involved with some of these discussions with different brigades. The difficulty is not RT(WT)R but the drivers hours regs contained in (EC)561/2006.
Thank you GURU 