A. Unfortunately, it is not written in law what minimum distance must be recorded. However, in Upper Tribunal cases, the Traffic Commissioner has referred to the failure of the operator to manage missing mileage as a factor in their decisions.
It also is sited in the Senior Traffic Commissioner’s Statutory document 1: Good repute and fitness. Similarly, where the Traffic Commissioner finds that the operator had no knowledge of the breaches, they will also give serious consideration as to whether the operator can continue to satisfy the repute requirement, as the operator should have been complying with the relevant undertaking. Missing mileage and a failure to retain or keep full records can often result in the remaining records being false as they may not show the true position (see 2011/065 Deep Transport Ltd).
There is no mention of the minimum distance that needs to be recorded; however, the enforcement officers would use their discretion on the amount of movement a vehicle would do when being shunted around in an operating centre.
Q. We have a driver that is a retained firefighter and would like to know what we have to do as an employer in relation to EU drivers’ hours rules.
A. In short, there are no concessions for retained fire fighters under EU drivers’ hours. DVSA’s guidance on drivers’ hours and tachographs for goods vehicles states:
‘No such concessions are available for those undertaking retained fire and rescue work, volunteer police work or voluntary emergency/rescue services (e.g. RNLI, mountain rescue) so activities of that nature can only be undertaken if they do not impact on legally required daily and weekly rest periods or if the situation is deemed to be an emergency as detailed Emergencies.’
For a retained fire fighter that is employed as a driver, they would have to follow EU 561/2006 EU Drivers hours rules. So, if a driver works during the day they would have to take a daily rest before they could commence a shift as a retained fire fighter. Similarly, they would have to abide by the weekly rest rules.
