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HGV drivers’ hours rules

Last reviewed: 20 September 2026 · Applies to assimilated drivers’ hours rules for most in-scope goods vehicles · Originally published 28 February 2025

Under assimilated rules (Regulation (EC) 561/2006 as it has effect in the UK), driving time, breaks and daily rest are separate limits. A day is not “9 hours of everything”. Driving has its own cap. Breaks are required after driving. Daily rest must be finished inside a 24-hour window from the end of the last rest.

This page is the driving, break and daily-rest manual. Weekly rest is covered separately. It is not the GB domestic drivers’ hours rulebook, and it is not a complete AETR manual.

This is guidance, not legal advice

Limits below are the usual assimilated rules for in-scope goods vehicles used in the UK or on UK–EU journeys. Exemptions, multi-manning, passenger operations and unforeseen events can change what applies. Always check the official sources at the end of this page and your tachograph records.

Which rules apply

Assimilated rules apply to drivers of most vehicles used to carry goods where the maximum permissible mass, including any trailer, is more than 3.5 tonnes, when the vehicle is used wholly in the UK or on journeys between the UK and the EU.

From 1 July 2026 they also apply to some light goods vehicles used for international transport (including cabotage) where the maximum permissible mass, including any trailer, exceeds 2.5 tonnes. That extra LGV rule does not apply to AETR journeys.

If the journey is to or through a non-EU AETR country, check the AETR position separately. If the vehicle is out of assimilated scope, GB domestic rules may apply instead. Those are different limits.

Driving limits

You must not drive more than:

Period	Maximum driving
Day	9 hours, or 10 hours twice in a fixed week
Fixed week (Monday 00:00 to Sunday 24:00)	56 hours
Any two consecutive fixed weeks	90 hours

Daily driving time is the driving accumulated between the end of one daily or weekly rest and the start of the next. It is not “time since you clocked on”.

Driving time is the driving recorded by the tachograph, or entered manually when the record is broken. A short period of in-scope driving in a day puts you in scope of the daily driving, break and rest rules for that day. Off-road driving between the same rests also counts toward the daily driving limit if you also drove on a public road between those rests. If you did not drive on a public road between those rests, off-road driving is other work.

Breaks from driving

After a driving period of no more than 4 hours 30 minutes you must immediately take an unbroken break of at least 45 minutes, unless you take a rest period instead.

That 45 minutes may be replaced by a break of at least 15 minutes followed by a break of at least 30 minutes, taken during the 4.5-hour driving period. The second piece must be at least 30 minutes. 20 + 25 does not qualify. A break shorter than 15 minutes does not count toward the 45.

A break is time when you do no driving and no other work, used only to recuperate. You may take a break in a moving vehicle if you are not working.

Once you have taken a qualifying 45-minute break (or 15 + 30), the next 4.5-hour driving period starts from scratch. Working-time breaks under the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005 are a separate set of rules.

Daily rest

Within each period of 24 hours after the end of the previous daily or weekly rest, you must have taken a new daily rest. Rest is an unbroken period when you may freely dispose of your time.

Type	Length	Usual use
Regular daily rest	At least 11 continuous hours	The normal daily rest. Must be finished inside the 24-hour window.
Reduced daily rest	At least 9 hours, less than 11 hours	Allowed at most three times between any two weekly rests. No compensation is required.
Split regular daily rest	At least 3 hours, then at least 9 hours	Counts as a regular daily rest. Total at least 12 hours. The 3-hour piece can be taken earlier in the day.

GOV.UK’s example: if you start work at 06:00, by 06:00 the next day you must have finished an 11-hour regular rest, a 12-hour split rest, or — if you still have a reduction left — a 9-hour reduced rest.

Daily rest may be taken in the vehicle if it has suitable sleeping facilities for each driver and the vehicle is stationary. Rest in a moving vehicle does not count.

The so-called 15-hour day

There is no separate “15-hour shift limit” in Regulation 561. What people mean is the window left after daily rest:

Regular 11-hour daily rest → up to 13 hours between rests.
Reduced 9-hour daily rest → up to 15 hours between rests.
Split 3 + 9 rest → at least 12 hours of rest, so a shorter working window.

Driving, other work, availability and breaks all sit inside that window. Breaks do not pause it. Loading, unloading, checks and other work do not use up the 9- or 10-hour driving cap, but they do use the time before the next daily rest must be finished.

Weekly rest (summary only)

A weekly rest must start no later than the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods after the end of the previous weekly rest. In any two consecutive fixed weeks you need two regular 45-hour weekly rests, or one regular and one reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours.

The “three times between weekly rests” limit is for reduced daily rest, not weekly rest. Do not use this page as the weekly-rest manual. Weekly rest period rules

Multi-manning

Where there are at least two drivers to do the driving between daily rests (the second driver may join in the first hour), each driver may take a daily rest of at least 9 hours inside a 30-hour window instead of 24 hours. A 9-hour rest used this way is a reduced daily rest and counts toward the three-reduction limit, unless the crew instead takes an 11-hour rest or a qualifying 3 + 9 split inside those 30 hours. Each driver’s own driving limits still apply.

Unforeseen events

You may only depart from the rules if something unexpected makes compliance impossible during the journey. Planned overruns do not qualify. Road safety must not be jeopardised. Typical examples on GOV.UK include severe weather, collisions, breakdowns and interrupted ferry services.

There is a concession to reach a suitable stopping place, and a separate assimilated concession (not AETR) to reach home or the usual operating centre for weekly rest, by up to one or two hours in defined cases. The 90-hour fortnight still applies. Record the reason on a printout or record sheet. This is not a complete unforeseen-events manual — use the GOV.UK section.

Common mistakes

Using a 10-hour driving day more than twice in a fixed week.
Splitting the 45-minute break as 20 + 25, or taking the 30-minute piece first.
Treating “max three reduced rests” as a weekly-rest rule. That limit is reduced daily rest.
Thinking breaks pause a 15-hour shift clock. They do not.
Counting only driving toward the 24-hour rest window and ignoring other work.
Assuming a 45-hour weekly rest must include “two nights”. The rule is 45 continuous hours, not a Fri–Sun pattern.

Checking your own records

HGV Time Pilot can read a driver card and show driving, breaks and rest that were actually recorded. That is useful for seeing what you have already taken. It does not replace the tachograph, and a live shift timer is not your legal record.

Confirm the legal position against the official sources below.