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HGV weekly rest period rules

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

Under assimilated rules (Regulation (EC) 561/2006 as it has effect in the UK), a weekly rest is an unbroken period when you may freely dispose of your time. It is either a regular weekly rest of at least 45 hours, or a reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours but less than 45 hours.

This is not the same as GB domestic drivers’ hours. It also is not a complete AETR manual. If your journey is to or through a non-EU AETR country, check the AETR position separately.

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.

The two-week pattern

In any two consecutive fixed weeks you must take at least:

two regular weekly rests (45 hours or more), or
one regular weekly rest and one reduced weekly rest (at least 24 hours, less than 45 hours).

You may take extra weekly rests of either type on top of that minimum. You cannot take two reduced weekly rests as your only weekly rests in two consecutive weeks — that misses the required regular 45-hour rest.

Type	Length	Usual use
Regular weekly rest	At least 45 continuous hours	The normal weekly rest. At least one is required in any two consecutive weeks.
Reduced weekly rest	At least 24 hours, less than 45 hours	Allowed instead of one of the two weekly rests. It must be compensated.

When the weekly rest must start

A weekly rest must start no later than the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods after the end of the previous weekly rest. Your “working week” runs from the end of one weekly rest to the start of the next. That does not have to line up with the calendar week.

A fixed week for these rules is 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday. A weekly rest that straddles Sunday/Monday may be counted in one of those two weeks, not both — unless it is long enough to be two back-to-back weekly rests (GOV.UK gives the example of at least 69 hours, treated as 45 hours plus 24 hours, still respecting the 6 × 24-hour limit).

You can work more than six shifts between weekly rests if you take compliant daily rests between them and you do not go more than six 24-hour periods between weekly rests.

Compensation for a reduced weekly rest

If you take a reduced weekly rest, the hours you “owe” must be given back as an equivalent rest, in one block, before the end of the third week following the week of the reduction. That compensation must be attached to another rest of at least 9 hours (a daily rest or a weekly rest).

Example from GOV.UK: a 33-hour weekly rest in week 1 is 12 hours short of 45. Those 12 hours must be attached, in one piece, to another rest of at least 9 hours before the end of week 4. You cannot split the 12 hours into smaller chunks.

Weekly-rest compensation date helper — usual-case hours owed and the Sunday deadline. Not a legal verdict.

Where weekly rest may be taken

Reduced weekly rest (under 45 hours) 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 — you must be able to freely dispose of your time.
Regular weekly rest (45 hours or more) and any weekly rest of more than 45 hours that includes compensation must not be taken in the vehicle. They must be taken in suitable accommodation with adequate sleeping and sanitary facilities (for example a hotel, hostel or rental). The employer must cover the cost of accommodation outside the vehicle.

Operators must organise work so that, within each period of four consecutive weeks, you can return to your normal operating centre or your home to take a regular weekly rest, or a weekly rest of more than 45 hours that includes compensation.

Two consecutive reduced rests (international goods)

Drivers of goods vehicles on international transport under assimilated rules may take two reduced weekly rests in a row if those rests are taken outside the UK and outside the driver’s country of residence. In any four consecutive fixed weeks you must still take at least four weekly rests, and at least two of those must be regular (45 hours or more).

Compensation for both reductions must be taken together, immediately before the next weekly rest, and that next weekly rest must be a regular one. After two consecutive reduced rests, the operator must organise the work so you can return home or to base before that compensated regular rest starts.

Ferry or train interruptions

Under assimilated rules a weekly rest may be interrupted no more than twice, and the interruptions together must not exceed one hour (typically driving on and off). If you interrupt a regular weekly rest this way, the ferry or train crossing itself must last at least 8 hours. Other conditions apply — use the GOV.UK ferry/train section rather than treating this as a complete ferry manual.

Common mistakes

Treating “max three reduced rests between 45-hour rests” as the rule. That limit is about reduced daily rest (9-hour nights), not weekly rest.
Splitting a weekly rest into 24 + 21 hours, or three short blocks that “add up” to 45. A weekly rest is one continuous period. (Split 3 + 9 hours is a form of daily rest, not weekly rest.)
Taking a regular 45-hour rest in the cab.
Taking two reduced weekly rests in two consecutive weeks and no 45-hour rest.
Forgetting compensation, or spreading it across several small rests.

Checking your own records

HGV Time Pilot can read a driver card and show rest that was 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 rest history.

Confirm the legal position against the official sources below.