Driving rules for fleets: Drivers' Hours, key legislation & duty of care

What are the rules you and your fleet/company car drivers need to follow?

Central to your fleet management should be the rules and regulations both you and your employees need to follow to ensure that they remain safe while on the clock – and even off of it.

This is true both for your dedicated fleet drivers, for your grey fleet and for those who have taken company cars or occasionally undertake a work-related journey. 

We’ve outlined the key legislation, as well as your duty of care and the responsibilities your drivers have, so you can easily build a solid foundation of rules and regulations for your fleet drivers, to keep both them – and your business – safer. 

What is the fleet manager’s duty of care?

No matter the size of your fleet, there are some key bits of legislation that govern road safety, and outline the duty of care you have towards your drivers.

The main responsibilities under the Road Traffic Acts fall under the care of the driver, but as the employer, there are also areas that fall under your jurisdiction, like supplying a safe vehicle with insurance if the company owns the car or van.

A vehicle being driven for business is considered a place of work, and therefore also falls under any legislation to do with the workplace, like the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

As fleet manager, you need to make sure that the vehicles being driven are fit for purpose, and are as safe as possible. Your duty of care also extends to members of the public who might be affected by your employees’ work activities.

You can be held ‘vicariously liable’ for your employees’ driving, which is much more of a risk if you haven’t complied with all the relevant legislation. For example, although reckless driving or breaking the speed limit is ultimately the employees’ responsibility, if the speeding is the fault of the employer because of poor scheduling, then both employer and employee could be prosecuted, 

Ultimately, it is your duty of care to keep your employees safe, and protect them from the risk of foreseeable injury, disease or death while at work. 

Having a robust system to manage your duty of care, with work vehicle policies, procedures and safe systems of work in place, will ultimately stand you in the best stead to make sure you don’t fall foul of the law, and your employees are safely taken care of and can carry out their duties. 

GB Drivers’ Hours rules

Drivers’ hours regulations are there to not only protect the drivers, but also ensure the safety of other road users through making sure that drivers are in a suitable condition to operate a vehicle.

EU drivers’ hours rules apply if the maximum weight of your vehicle is more than 3.5 tonnes, and to any journeys undertaken between the EU and the UK, or wholly within the UK or the EU. All driving you do under EU rules needs to be recorded on a tachograph, and the working time directives and breaks and rests must be adhered to.

These are:

• At least 11 hours of rest every day
• An unbroken rest period of 45 hours every week
• A break (or breaks) totalling at least 45 minutes after four and a half hours of driving
• A weekly rest after six consecutive 24-hour periods of working

There are also the GB domestic rules, which apply to most goods vehicles that don’t have to follow EU rules – including those with a maximum permitted gross weight of 3.5 tonnes or less - in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland follows a different set of rules. 

As before, rules on duty time, daily driving limits and daily duty limits need to be followed.

Duty time is any time spent working if you’re employed by a company, but for those who are self-employed it’s defined as time spent driving the vehicle or carrying out any work that’s related to the vehicle or the load.

Drivers must not be driving for more than ten hours in a day, and drivers can’t be on duty for more than 11 hours in any working day. The limit doesn’t apply on a working day where you’re not driving, but all your hours need to be recorded either on a record sheet or tachograph.

There are some exemptions to the duty limit, including if your vehicle weighs less than 3.5 tonnes and you’re using your vehicle:

• As a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or vet.
• For inspection, cleaning or maintenance work.
• As commercial travellers when carrying goods only for the purpose of soliciting orders.
• If you’re working for the AA, RAC or RSAC.
• For cinematography, or for radio and television limit.

There are also exemptions to all the GB domestic rules, including:

• Dealing with an emergency (i.e., a major disruption to public services or danger to life).
• Using the vehicle for private driving, and not work.
• Driving off-road or on private roads during duty time.
• Driving a vehicle used by the armed forces, police or fire brigade.
• Off-road driving does count as duty time if it’s for agriculture, quarrying, forestry, building work or civil engineering.

Fleet driver policy

It’s good practice to develop a policy for both your fleet drivers and anyone driving a company car, so they know exactly where they stand. 

This policy will not only set in stone the expectations you have for them, but also what the company itself is responsible for, so there’s no confusion on either your side or theirs. 

Your drivers are ultimately responsible for their own driving, and thus any fines or penalties issued. You’ll need to outline in your policy how you’ll recover the money if necessary. It’s also worth noting that your drivers need to keep you informed of any incidents, such as collisions, any driving offences, or the vehicle being stolen.

Another key aspect of your company or fleet car policy is the time they should be driving for. 

Even if your drivers don’t need to follow the GB Drivers’ Hours regulations, they’re a good place to start. For example, if your employees are working for less than eight and a half hours, they should take a 30-minute break after five and a half hours of driving.

If they’re working for longer than that, then they shouldn’t be driving for more than seven hours and 45 minutes and their breaks should add up to at least 45 minutes. 

Key laws for fleets

There are a number of key pieces of legislation that fleet managers need to be aware of and adhere to.

Ranging from drink driving regulations to road safety laws and right through to health and safety, these should form the basis of any fleet driver policies that you create.

These laws include:

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
• Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1992
• Drivers’ Hours
• Road Traffic Acts
• Highway Code
• Drink- and drug-driving legislation
• Restrictions on mobile phone use

Many of the laws surround occupational health and safety. Employers have a duty of care for the safety of their employees in the workplace, as well as a duty of care to others who could be affected by work-related activities, such as other road users.

Risk assessments need to take place so that precautions can then be taken, and rules can be put in place to ensure that your employees are as safe as possible when they’re out and about, and any work equipment used needs to be properly maintained and inspected. 

You also have a duty to set driver schedules that don’t put your employees in a position where they might need to break speed limits or other laws in order to complete their set work for the day. 

Tachographs and telematics

Tachographs need to be fitted to any vehicle that weighs over 3.5 tonnes, or on smaller vehicles if they’re used for towing and the combined weight is over 3.5 tonnes, but it’s up to you if you wish to fit telematics devices to your LCV or car fleet.

Tachographs record driving time, speed and distance information, and are used to make sure that you and your employees are adhering to the Drivers’ Hours regulations. 

Telematics devices work in much the same way.

They allow you as a business to monitor information from your fleet vehicles, including GPS tracking and performance monitoring. Some systems even allow your drivers to contact their base. They’re a good way of keeping an eye on the health of your fleet, and can help you to detect issues before they become problems.

Using telematics can also allow you to plan more efficient routes, and can help you to improve your drivers’ behaviour and ultimately stay safer on the roads when they’re undertaking work-related duties.