Drivers' hours and weekly working hours for UK tree crews: what GOV.UK says

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It sets out the GOV.UK wording by rule set and does not say which rules apply to any crew, vehicle or job. Licence classes and weights are on the guide to driving licences by country. Rules in Northern Ireland differ: GOV.UK says there are separate drivers' hours rules there, and this page does not cover them. Text on the GOV.UK pages is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, and this page restates it in its own words.

Which rule set GOV.UK names

GOV.UK's drivers' hours overview says the rules depend on the type of vehicle and on the country driven in. Its page on goods vehicles sets out three rule sets.

Rule set	When GOV.UK says it applies
Assimilated rules, previously called EU rules	The maximum weight of the vehicle or combination is more than 3.5 tonnes, driving in the UK or to, from or through an EU country. Some vehicles are exempt when driven in the UK
AETR rules	The vehicle or combination is more than 3.5 tonnes, driving to, through or from a country that follows the AETR agreement
Great Britain domestic rules	In England, Wales and Scotland if the maximum weight is under 3.5 tonnes, or the vehicle is exempt from the assimilated rules when driven in the UK, or the vehicle is used in connection with a trade or business

GOV.UK's page on driving a van puts it for business use this way: a person who drives a van for business for more than 4 hours a day must follow the Great Britain domestic rules. It adds that a van with a trailer must follow the assimilated rules if the combined design gross weight is above 3.5 tonnes, with some exemptions. Both rule sets apply by vehicle weight and use, so the weight terms on the guide to vehicle weights in the United Kingdom matter to the reading.

Great Britain domestic rules for goods vehicles

GOV.UK's domestic rules page covers goods vehicles that do not have to follow the assimilated rules. It says:

Duty time. For a driver working for a company, duty time is any working time. For a self-employed driver it is only time spent driving the vehicle or doing other work related to the vehicle or its load.
Daily driving limit. A driver must not drive more than 10 hours in a day, on a public road, or off-road if not during duty time. Off-road driving counts as duty time if it is for agriculture, quarrying, forestry, building work or civil engineering.
Daily duty limit. A driver must not be on duty more than 11 hours in any working day. The limit does not apply on a working day when the driver does not drive.
Records. Hours are recorded on a weekly record sheet or on a tachograph.

The same page lists vehicles exempt from the daily duty limit when the vehicle weighs less than 3.5 tonnes, including those used for inspection, cleaning or maintenance work, and by doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives and vets. It lists exemptions to all the domestic rules: dealing with an emergency, private driving not for work, driving off-road or on private roads during duty time, and vehicles used by the armed forces, police or fire brigade. Tree work is not named in that list.

The assimilated limits for heavier vehicles

The DVSA guidance on assimilated and AETR rules for goods vehicles summarises the limits in section 1.11. It gives a break of no less than 45 minutes after no more than 4.5 hours of driving, daily driving of 9 hours extendable to 10 hours no more than twice a week, weekly driving of 56 hours and 90 hours in any 2 weeks, and a daily rest of at least 11 hours that can be reduced to 9 hours no more than 3 times between weekly rests. It says vehicles under these rules must have a tachograph fitted, and that drivers also normally have to follow the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005.

Exemptions that name forestry

GOV.UK's page on exemptions from the assimilated rules says exempt vehicles come under the Great Britain domestic rules in England, Scotland and Wales, and points to section 1.1 of the DVSA guidance for the full list. That section has national derogations that apply only on trips wholly within the UK. One covers vehicles used or hired without a driver by agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery undertakings, to carry goods as part of their own activity within a radius of 100 km from the base of the undertaking. Another covers agricultural and forestry tractors used for those activities within 100 km of the base. The guidance says the first applies only to a business in those activities, and that an organisation that uses vehicles occasionally for such purposes does not qualify for that use. It also says that for a horticulture undertaking the carriage of plants, hard landscaping and fencing materials and related tools falls within it. The words tree work and arboriculture do not appear on any of the drivers' hours pages read for this guide.

Weekly working hours

This is a separate law from drivers' hours. GOV.UK's maximum weekly working hours page says a worker cannot work more than 48 hours a week on average, normally averaged over 17 weeks, and that a worker can choose to work more by opting out of the 48-hour week. It says workers under 18 cannot work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. It lists jobs where more than 48 hours on average may be worked, among them jobs where 24-hour staffing is required, the emergency services and security and surveillance. It says employers need to keep some records about working hours and sends readers to Acas for advice.

If the rules are broken

The overview says a driver who breaks the drivers' hours rules may be prosecuted or fined. It lists a prohibition notice for serious or dangerous offences, a fixed penalty fine or points, and a vehicle immobilised if it is a danger to road safety. It lists an offence rectification notice and a verbal warning among the other penalties. The driving a van page says a driver can be fined up to GBP 300 for exceeding daily driving limits.