The TachoClear rules guide

How long you can drive

9 hours a day, 10 twice a week, 56 a week, 90 a fortnight.

Four limits sit on top of each other, and the one that bites first is the one that matters. Nine hours of driving in a day, which you may stretch to ten twice in a fixed week. Fifty-six hours in a fixed week. Ninety hours across any two consecutive weeks.

The day is not midnight to midnight. It runs from the end of one daily or weekly rest to the beginning of the next, so a shift that starts at 22:00 and finishes at 06:00 is one driving day, not two.

A daily driving period can cross midnight. The daily limit still runs from rest to rest, while the weekly total is counted in the fixed calendar week in which each part of the driving occurs.

The fixed week is a calendar week: 00:00 Monday to 24:00 Sunday. It is not a rolling seven days, and it does not move with your shift pattern. The fortnight limit is different — it is any two consecutive fixed weeks, so it slides.

The two ten-hour days are per fixed week and they do not carry over. Use both by Wednesday and every remaining day that week is capped at nine, however much rest you take.

Off-road driving counts towards the daily limit if you also drove on a public road between the same two rests. See the off-road article for the rest of that.

Worked example — The week that runs out before the day does

• Mon–Thu 9h, 10h, 9h, 10h driving (38h, both extensions used)
• Fri 9h driving (47h)
• Sat you are asked to do 10h
• The daily limit says 9h — both ten-hour days have gone
• The weekly limit says 9h too — 56h − 47h

Saturday is capped at nine hours by two different rules at once. TachoClear shows whichever bites first, and says which one it is.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.4; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Articles 6(1) and 6(2)

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Split breaks

At least 15, then at least 30 — in that order, or it doesn't count.

After four and a half hours of driving you need a break of at least 45 minutes. You can split it, but only one way round: a first part of at least 15 minutes, then a second part of at least 30.

Both parts have to fall inside the same four and a half hours of driving. Once you pass 4h30 without having completed the pattern, a later 30 no longer finishes it — you owe an uninterrupted 45 (or a daily or weekly rest), and the overrun is already an infringement.

Anything under 15 minutes is invisible. It doesn't count towards the break — and it isn't counted as driving or duty either.

The order is what catches people. 30 then 15 fails, because the second part is under 30 minutes. 30 then 30 is fine. So is 20 then 40. A 15-minute stop, a 10-minute stop, then 30 minutes also works — the 10 minutes is simply ignored.

A daily or weekly rest does the same job as a break: take one, and the four and a half hours starts again from nothing.

Worked example — A split that doesn't count

• 06:00 – 08:00 Driving (2h)
• 08:00 – 08:30 Break (30 min) — this becomes the first part
• 08:30 – 09:30 Driving (1h)
• 09:30 – 09:45 Break (15 min) — too short to be the second part
• 09:45 onwards Driving — the clock is still running

At 10:30 you have 3h45 of driving behind you and 45 minutes left before a qualifying break is due. The two stops have not made one.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.4; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 7

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Availability is not automatically a break

Waiting you knew about is a POA. It is not automatically a break.

A period of availability is waiting whose length you knew in advance — sitting on a ferry, waiting while somebody else tips you, queuing at a frontier.

It is not working time, so it doesn't count towards your 48-hour average or the 60-hour week. That is the good news.

A POA is not automatically a break for the four-and-a-half-hour driving clock or the Working Time totals. But the regulations allow a break to be taken during waiting time or non-driving time in a moving vehicle, ferry or train. TachoClear asks rather than guessing.

If the time was free of driving and other work and was taken to recuperate, log it as a break when it meets the applicable break rule. The app will offer to change a long enough POA, but you decide whether that describes what actually happened.

You do not have to be free to leave the cab for a break. Being free to dispose of your time is the test for daily rest, not for a break.

As logged, TachoClear treats a POA as duty and counts it in your spread. DVSA guidance makes that conditional: it is not duty when you can take a break or rest during it that meets the assimilated rules. The POA label alone does not settle that, especially on a multi-manned journey.

On a multi-manned journey, 45 minutes of a period of availability can count as your driving break while the other driver drives — provided you do nothing to assist them. Ferry or train waiting can contain a qualifying break or rest only when the relevant rule conditions are met. Because the declaration combines crew and ferry/train context, TachoClear cannot tell from the log which circumstances applied, so its clock warning says the reset is unknown. See the multi-manning and ferry/train guides.

Worked example — Four hours on the bay

• 06:00 – 10:00 Driving (4h)
• 10:00 – 10:45 Availability — told it would be 45 minutes
• 10:45 – 11:15 Driving (30 min)

As logged, the driving clock reads 4h30 — the availability did nothing for it. If those 45 minutes were actually a qualifying break taken free of driving and other work, change the activity to a break; you would not have had to leave the cab.

Source: The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, regs 2 and 6(1)–(4); GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §§1.3, 1.4 and 4.3, and Annex 2

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Daily rest: your three options

11 hours, 9 hours three times, or 3 then 9.

Within 24 hours of the end of your last rest, you have to have completed a new daily rest. Note where the 24 hours starts: the end of the last rest, not midnight.

The standard rest is 11 hours in one go. That leaves a 13-hour spread — the time from starting work to finishing it.

You can cut it to 9 hours, three times between weekly rests. Nothing has to be paid back. That buys you a 15-hour spread. A fourth reduction is an infringement.

You can also split it: at least 3 hours first, then at least 9, totalling at least 12. That counts as a regular rest, so it costs you nothing from the budget of three.

The reason a 15-hour spread uses a reduction even when you sleep for 11 hours is arithmetic: only 9 of those hours land inside the 24-hour window. What matters is how much rest falls inside the window, not how long you were in bed.

Rest can be taken in the cab if there is a proper bunk in it and the vehicle is stationary.

Worked example — Two ways to finish a long day

• 06:00 Start. The 24-hour window closes at 06:00 tomorrow.
• Finish at 19:00 → 11 hours to 06:00. A regular rest, nothing used.
• Finish at 21:00 → 9 hours to 06:00. One of your three reductions.
• Finish at 22:00 → only 8 hours fit. That is an infringement.

The latest finish is 13 hours after the window opened on a regular rest, or 15 on a reduced one. TachoClear tells you which it is assuming, every time.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.5; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 8

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Weekly rest and paying it back

45 hours, or 24 with the difference owed.

A regular weekly rest is at least 45 hours. A reduced one is at least 24 and under 45.

In any two consecutive fixed weeks you need two weekly rests, and at least one of them has to be the full 45 hours.

Cut one, and the difference is owed. It is paid back in one block — never in pieces — attached to another rest of at least 9 hours, before the end of the third week following the week you cut it in.

Only the reduced weekly rest that meets the minimum requirement has to be compensated. An extra one taken purely to avoid breaching the six-times-24-hours rule does not create a second debt. TachoClear works this out per week and will not invent a debt you don't owe.

A regular weekly rest cannot be taken in the vehicle. Neither can a longer rest that includes compensation. Those need proper accommodation, and the employer pays for it.

TachoClear cannot tell whether you actually took your compensating rest — a normal weekly rest is long enough to hide it. So it keeps the debt on the ledger with its deadline until you mark it settled.

Worked example — A 30-hour weekend

• Week beginning Mon 2 March: weekly rest of 30 hours
• 45 − 30 = 15 hours owed
• Must be taken before Monday 30 March 00:00 — the end of Sunday 29 March
• Pay it as 15 hours added, in one block, to a rest of at least 9 hours

The ledger shows 15 hours owed before 30/03/2026 00:00 until you tell the app you have taken it.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.6; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 8(6)

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

The six-times-24-hours rule

Your weekly rest must start within 144 hours of the last one ending.

Your next weekly rest has to start no later than the end of six consecutive 24-hour periods, measured from the end of the last one. Six times 24 is 144 hours.

It is a deadline for starting, not for finishing. Start it in time and it can run as long as you like.

The count includes everything, not just driving. A day of yard work with no driving still uses up 24 hours, and so does a shift for a second employer.

You can have more than six shifts between weekly rests, as long as your daily rests are compliant and you don't exceed the 144 hours.

Your working week does not have to line up with the fixed week. A weekly rest in the middle of a Monday-to-Sunday week is perfectly normal.

A rest of at least 69 hours spanning a week boundary can count as two weekly rests back to back, provided no more than 144 hours passed between the end of the previous one and the start of this one.

Worked example — Counting from the end

• Last weekly rest ended Sunday 03:00
• 144 hours later is Saturday 03:00
• Your next weekly rest must have started by then
• The number of shifts is not the test — the 144-hour deadline is

TachoClear counts from the end of the rest, not from Monday, so the deadline is a real time on a real day rather than a guess.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.6; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 8(6)

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Multi-manning

Declare the co-driver evidence, first-hour boundary and 30-hour rest window.

Multi-manning means there are at least two drivers aboard to do the driving between two rests. For the first hour the second driver is optional, so you can set off and collect them on the way — but only within that hour.

The concession is a 30-hour window instead of 24. Each driver takes at least 9 hours' rest inside it, which lets a crew's duties spread over 21 hours.

A 9-hour rest taken this way is still a reduced rest, and still counts against the three between weekly rests. Take 11 hours, or 3 then 9, and it counts as regular.

Rest still has to be taken stationary, even with two of you aboard. A driver resting in a moving cab is not free to dispose of their time.

On a crewed journey you may take your 45-minute break while the other driver drives, provided you do nothing to assist them during it. The condition is on you, not on them.

TachoClear assesses the primary driver's declared co-driver interval. It shows the first-hour boundary, the daily-rest deadline and whether the evidence supports the multi-manning window.

Add or correct the interval in Settings. A missing, late, contradictory or unknown interval keeps the stricter single-driver calculation and explains why.

The app has only the primary driver's timeline. It does not prove the co-driver's card, identity, driving limits, working time, rest, passenger-seat or bunk evidence.

Ferry and train interruptions, AETR differences and route-specific mixed rules remain outside this assessment. Keep the crew and ferry caveat on when those conditions apply.

Worked example — Where the 30 hours comes from

• Declare the co-driver present from 06:30 Monday
• The first-hour boundary is 07:00
• Confirm the stationary or outside-vehicle rest condition
• The 30-hour window closes at 12:00 Tuesday

The result uses the 30-hour window only when the interval and rest conditions are supported; otherwise it explains the conservative single-driver result.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.5; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Articles 4(o), 7 and 8(5)

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Ferry and train crossings

When a rest can be interrupted, and by how much.

Accompanying your vehicle on a ferry or train lets you interrupt a rest to drive on and off. No more than twice, and no more than an hour in total.

Only a regular daily rest can be interrupted — 11 hours, or 12 as a 3-then-9 split. A reduced 9-hour rest cannot. The total rest still has to add up to 11 or 12 hours, and if you are single-manned it must still be completed inside the 24-hour window.

Weekly rests can be interrupted too under the assimilated rules. A reduced weekly rest needs a sleeper cabin, bunk or couchette available. A regular weekly rest needs the crossing itself to be scheduled for 8 hours or more, and a sleeper cabin — and no part of it may be taken in the vehicle.

Under AETR rules — journeys to, from or through AETR countries — only regular daily rests may be interrupted. Weekly rests may not.

On a crewed journey, an interrupted daily rest has to be a regular 11 hours (or 12 split) and has to finish inside the 30-hour spreadover.

Travelling to a vehicle that is not at your home or base is other work, not rest — unless you are on a ferry or train with a bunk under these rules.

TachoClear does not model interrupted rests. It will read the interruption as work in the middle of your rest, which is stricter than the law. Turn on the crew and ferry setting and the app will mark the verdicts that could be affected.

Worked example — A night crossing

• 20:00 Rest begins on the boat
• Sleeper cabin, bunk or couchette is available
• 05:30 – 06:00 Interruption: drive off, customs (30 min)
• 06:00 – 08:30 Rest resumes
• Total rest 12 hours, one interruption, 30 minutes

Legal under the assimilated rules because the required sleeping facility is available. TachoClear would see a 9h30 rest, a break in it, and 2h30 after — and judge it more harshly than an examiner would.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.7; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 9

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Mixing GB and assimilated days

TachoClear withholds mixed-rulebook output because both GB domestic and assimilated/AETR limits can matter.

Plenty of drivers spend part of a day or week under one rulebook and part under the other. Where they meet, the assimilated rules take precedence.

The GB domestic driving limit is 10 hours, and the duty limit is normally 11 hours in a working day, with exemptions for some days and vehicle uses. But the moment you do any assimilated driving, the assimilated spread of 13 or 15 hours applies too, depending on the rest you take, and the assimilated breaks must be taken inside it.

Driving and duty under GB rules count as other work under the assimilated rules — never as a break or rest. That includes non-driving work in another job.

Driving or duty under assimilated rules counts towards the GB driving and duty limits.

Even a short spell of assimilated driving puts you under the assimilated daily driving, break and rest rules for that whole day. The weekly rest and driving limits still apply across the week. Occasional mobile workers may be exempt from the 2005 Working Time Regulations, but that is a separate test.

The six-times-24-hours count includes all work, GB days included. If earlier unregulated work has already used up the 144 hours, you need a weekly rest before you touch an assimilated job.

TachoClear does not compute mixed days. Logging GB work as other work while the assimilated mode is selected keeps that time out of the assimilated driving clock, but it does not check the GB 10-hour driving or normally 11-hour duty limits. If a day or week contains both rulebooks, TachoClear withholds categorical output; keep recording and check the tachograph, manual or a qualified operator.

Worked example — A GB morning and an assimilated afternoon

• 06:00 – 10:00 GB domestic driving — log as other work in assimilated mode
• 10:00 – 14:30 Assimilated driving (4h30)
• 14:30 – 15:15 Break (45 min)
• The GB 11-hour duty limit and the assimilated 13/15-hour spread both apply

Both rulebooks may apply, including the GB duty limit and the assimilated spread. TachoClear does not calculate this interaction, so check the tachograph, manual or a qualified operator rather than treating the example as an in-app clearance.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §3

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

GB domestic passenger rules are outside this calculation

Passenger vehicles use a different GB domestic rulebook; TachoClear asks you to confirm Goods instead of applying goods limits.

GB domestic rules for passenger vehicles are not the same as the GB goods-vehicle rules. They contain different break, driving, spread, rest and fortnightly requirements.

TachoClear does not calculate that passenger rulebook. It will not silently substitute the goods limits, and it will withhold categorical GB output while GB domestic and Passenger are selected.

Confirm Goods in Settings if you need the GB domestic goods calculation. If you are using an assimilated passenger vehicle, select the assimilated passenger option instead; that setting changes only the Working Time night window to 01:00–05:00 and does not claim to model GB domestic passenger rules.

Keep recording the work and check the tachograph, the official guidance or a qualified operator before relying on a passenger-vehicle GB domestic result.

Worked example — A passenger vehicle in GB

• Settings GB domestic rules + Passenger
• TachoClear identifies the unsupported combination
• Output GB driving, duty, rest and break figures are withheld
• Next step confirm Goods, or choose assimilated passenger when that is the rulebook you need

The app does not turn a passenger vehicle into a goods vehicle. Confirm the supported combination before relying on categorical GB output.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: passenger vehicles §2

Guidance last updated: 4 December 2025

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

International work

Two reduced weekly rests need route and operator evidence.

On international carriage of goods under the assimilated rules — goods only, so it does not apply to coach work — you may take two reduced weekly rests in a row, provided that across any four consecutive fixed weeks you take at least four weekly rests, two of them regular.

For this concession, both reduced weekly rests must start outside the UK — or, for an EU-established employer, outside the employer's member state — and outside your country of residence.

Where you have taken two reduced rests in a row, the compensation for both has to come before, and be attached to, the next weekly rest — and that one must be a regular weekly rest.

Separately, operators must organise the work so that within every four weeks you can get back to your operating centre or your home to take a regular weekly rest, or a longer one that includes compensation.

Neither of these applies to AETR-regulated journeys. The AETR agreement has not been aligned with the assimilated rules on this.

TachoClear does not collect or verify the route, residence, employer or return-to-base evidence for this concession. When two consecutive reduced weekly rests appear without those facts, it withholds the categorical pattern result and related compensation output, and asks you to check the tachograph and operator records. It does not decide that the concession applies.

Worked example — Four weeks abroad

• Week 1 Regular weekly rest, 45 hours
• Week 2 Reduced, 24 hours — 21 owed
• Week 3 Reduced, 24 hours — 21 owed
• Week 4 42 hours of compensation, then a regular 45-hour rest

This is a theoretical international-goods pattern, not an in-app clearance. TachoClear needs the route and operator evidence before it can decide; until then it withholds the pattern and related ledger output.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.6; retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 Article 8(6), 8(6b) and 8(8a)

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Night work

Night work caps the 24-hour total at 10 hours, using the window for your vehicle.

Night time for goods vehicles is midnight to 04:00. For passenger vehicles it is 01:00 to 05:00.

Do any work in that window and your working time must not exceed 10 hours in that 24-hour period. Not 10 hours of night work — 10 hours in total.

It applies to any period of 24 hours containing night work, which is why the cap can bite on a shift that starts in the evening and finishes in the early hours.

The 10 hours can be extended by a collective or workforce agreement, for objective or technical reasons or reasons to do with how work is organised. A self-employed driver may also elect an extension under regulation 9(2A). It is an extension, not a removal — but the higher figure is yours, not ours, so if one applies, turn it on in Settings and TachoClear stops applying the 10-hour figure.

Availability is not work, so waiting through the small hours does not trigger the cap. And if you never work in the window, the cap never applies — TachoClear will not flag a day driver for night work.

For a goods vehicle, working into the hour after midnight is enough. For a passenger vehicle, the window starts at 01:00. Starting at 03:59 is night work for either.

Worked example — A goods-vehicle evening start

• 13:00 – 17:30 Driving (4h30)
• 17:30 – 18:15 Break (45 min)
• 18:15 – 22:45 Driving (4h30)
• 22:45 – 00:15 Other work (1h30) — 15 minutes of it is night work

Working time is 10h30. Because 15 minutes of it fell after midnight, the 10-hour cap applies and you are 30 minutes over.

Source: The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, regs 2 and 9(1)–(2A)

Guidance last updated: as amended to 1 January 2024

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Working Time breaks vs driving breaks

Two rulebooks, three separate break rules.

There are three break rules running at once, and they are not the same rule.

The driving break: 45 minutes after four and a half hours of driving, splittable 15 then 30. This one is about driving only.

The consecutive-work rule: you must not work more than six hours in a row without a break of at least 15 minutes. A qualifying break resets the run. TachoClear's conservative model does not let a POA reset it, although the regulations allow a break to be taken during a POA in specific waiting or non-driving situations.

The cumulative-totals rule: once your working time passes six hours you need 30 minutes of break in total, and once it passes nine you need 45. In pieces of at least 15 minutes.

The cumulative rule is a total, not a reset. A 15-minute break does not discharge it; it contributes 15 minutes towards it.

Working time is driving plus other work. Availability is excluded. Breaks and rest are excluded.

The average is 48 hours a week over the applicable reference period, with 60 hours as an absolute ceiling in any single fixed week. There is no individual opt-out under the 2005 regulations.

Worked example — Eight hours with one short break

• 06:00 – 10:00 Other work (4h)
• 10:00 – 10:15 Break (15 min)
• 10:15 – 14:15 Other work (4h)
• Working time 8 hours; break total 15 minutes

The consecutive-work rule is satisfied — neither run reached six hours. The cumulative rule is not: eight hours' working time needs 30 minutes in total, so you are 15 minutes short.

Source: The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005, regs 4 and 7; GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles Annex 2

Guidance last updated: as amended to 1 January 2024

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Unforeseen events

Two concessions, both for genuine surprises only.

Two concessions exist for things that genuinely could not be planned for. Neither is a way to build a schedule.

The first: to reach a suitable stopping place, you may depart from the driving limits, breaks and rest requirements — but only as far as is needed for the safety of people, the vehicle or the load. Road safety must not be put at risk.

The second: to reach your operating centre or your home, you may go one hour over for either kind of weekly rest — or two hours, but only for a regular weekly rest and only if you take an uninterrupted 30-minute break immediately beforehand. Either way the extension has to be paid back in one block with a later rest, by the end of the third week following. The 90-hour fortnight can never be exceeded, and the extra driving must not be interrupted by other work unless safety requires it.

Under the first concession, operators are expected to try to stay inside the weekly and fortnightly limits. Under the second, the 90 hours is an absolute bar.

Either way, write the reasons on your printout or record sheet — at the latest when you reach the stopping place or the destination.

Any extension has to be compensated by an equivalent rest, in one block, added to another rest, by the end of the third week following.

The second concession does not apply to AETR-regulated journeys.

TachoClear treats both as information only. They never change what the app tells you you can do, because a planned breach is not a concession — it is an offence.

Worked example — One hour from home

• You are 45 minutes from base with 10 minutes' driving left
• Concession: up to one extra hour to get home for a weekly rest
• Two hours instead, if you take 30 minutes' break first
• Note the reason on the printout; pay the time back within three weeks

The app will still show the overrun as an infringement, because it cannot know whether the circumstances were genuinely exceptional. That is your record to make, on the printout.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.10

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Travelling to the vehicle

Getting to a lorry that isn't at base is other work.

If the vehicle is neither at your home nor at the operating centre you normally work from, the time spent getting to it or back from it is other work. However you travel, and whether or not you are paid for it.

It does not matter that it was your own decision to travel. It still cannot count as rest or as a break.

The exception is a ferry or train where you have access to a sleeper cabin, bunk or couchette, under the interruption rules.

If you have driven out your maximum hours, you can still be driven back to base as a passenger — provided you are not required to start a rest before you get there. Log it as other work, or as availability if you are doing nothing at all.

Worked example — An hour in a taxi

• 05:00 – 06:00 Travel to a trailer parked at a customer site
• 06:00 – 10:30 Driving (4h30)
• The travel is other work: your spread began at 05:00, not 06:00

Getting this wrong costs you an hour of spread at the end of the day, which is where it hurts.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.9

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

What the tachograph itself needs at borders

Country entries are a tachograph-recording duty, not an hours rule.

On a digital or smart tachograph, enter the country symbol when you start and finish a day's work and record border crossings as the rules for your tachograph type require. On an analogue chart, record the start and end date and place; country symbols are a separate border-crossing duty.

This is a recording duty. It is not a drivers' hours limit, and getting it wrong is a separate matter from your driving and rest times.

TachoClear does not track it and will never raise an infringement about it.

Check what your own tachograph requires — smart tachographs handle some of this automatically, older units do not.

Worked example — Why you won't see a border warning here

• TachoClear models driving time, breaks, rest and working time
• It does not model card entries, country symbols or crossings
• So it cannot flag you for one — correctly or incorrectly

Your tachograph is the legal record. TachoClear is the plan.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §4

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Off-road driving

Whether it counts as driving depends on the regime.

Under the assimilated rules, off-road driving between two rests counts towards your daily driving limit if there was also public-road driving between those same rests. If there was no public-road driving between them, the off-road driving is other work.

Journeys made entirely off road are out of scope of the assimilated hours and tachograph rules altogether — but if you do any in-scope work, you must still record off-road driving as other work.

Under the GB domestic rules it is the other way about for certain trades. If the off-road work is farming, quarrying, forestry, construction or civil engineering, that driving is duty — it still eats your 11-hour duty limit, but it leaves the 10 hours of driving alone.

TachoClear has no separate off-road switch. Log it as driving or other work according to the rule above, and the app will treat it correctly.

Worked example — A day on a quarry and a day on the road

• Quarry only, no public road: off-road driving is other work
• Quarry plus a public-road trip between the same two rests: it all counts as driving
• Under GB domestic rules, quarry driving is duty, not driving

Which mode you are in changes the answer, which is why the app asks you once and then remembers.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.4 and §2.2

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

What enforcement can check

Today plus 28 days — or 56 on UK–EU international work — and how penalties are graduated.

At the roadside you must be able to produce your records, including your driver card: the current day and previous 28 calendar days for AETR or domestic journeys under the assimilated rules, or 56 days for international journeys to and from an EU member country. GB domestic records may also be required.

Fixed penalties are graduated by how badly the limit was missed. The policy sets four levels: £50, £100, £200 and £300.

Since 2018, fixed penalties can be issued for drivers' hours offences found in the last 28 days, or since your last enforcement check. That 28 days is a different 28 days from the records you carry, and different again from the 28 days you get to pay.

Once issued, you have 28 days to pay or ask for a court hearing. In England and Wales, failing to do either puts the amount up by half and registers it as a court fine; in Scotland it is reported to the Procurator Fiscal instead, with no uplift.

Some offences carry Most Serious Infringement status — exceeding a daily driving limit by five hours or more, for example, or exceeding the weekly limit by 14 hours or more.

TachoClear shows the band an infringement would fall in, with the page it comes from. It does not predict what an examiner will do, because nobody can.

Worked example — The record and penalty windows

• Records you carry: today plus the previous 28 calendar days — or 56 days for UK–EU international work
• Historical offences that can attract a penalty: the last 28 days
• Time to pay or ask for a hearing: 28 days from issue

Record production can cover 28 or 56 days depending on the journey; the historical-offence and payment windows are separate 28-day rules. Keep the three windows distinct.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §3.4, §4.1–4.3 and §6; DVSA Enforcement Sanctions Policy, May 2026

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026 (policy: 1 May 2026)

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Agency work and second jobs

Other work is other work, whoever you do it for.

Time spent working in another job cannot count as rest. It is duty, whatever the work is and whoever it is for.

That covers self-employed work, community service, and non-emergency work for retained fire, volunteer police, the RNLI or mountain rescue.

It covers CPC training too, if you are doing it at your employer's request. Training you attend voluntarily can fall in a rest period.

If your in-scope employer asks, you must tell them in writing about time worked for any other employer.

For agency drivers, whether you are in scope is decided placement by placement — a placement where you never carry goods is outside the rules.

Log second-job work as other work. It will eat into your spread and your working time, and it will stop a rest counting, which is exactly what it does in law.

Worked example — A bar shift after a driving day

• 06:00 – 15:45 Driving day (9h driving)
• 15:45 – 19:00 Rest (3h15)
• 19:00 – 23:00 Bar work — other work, not rest
• 23:00 – 08:00 Rest (9h)

Only 7 hours of rest fell inside the 24-hour window that opened at 06:00. The bar shift broke the rest, and that is an infringement.

Source: GOV.UK, Drivers' hours and tachographs: goods vehicles §1.3, §1.6 and Annex 2

Guidance last updated: 1 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.

Driver CPC and your card

35 hours every five years, and what to do if it lapses.

35 hours of periodic training every 5 years. You can be fined up to £1,000 for driving professionally without Driver CPC.

For the UK only, you can mix National and International courses. To drive in Europe, all 35 hours must be International — one National course anywhere in the 35 makes the card National. If you receive a National card, International hours already on your record cannot be reused for an International card later.

International courses run at least 7 hours and can be taken over two consecutive days. National courses run at least 3 hours 30 minutes. Up to 12 hours of the 35 can be e-learning.

A Return to Driving CPC course is available if your CPC expired less than 2 years ago. The Return to Driving course is 7 hours and up to 2 of those can be e-learning. Once the provider has entered it against your licence you are back on the road in the UK. You must then complete 28 further hours within 12 months. Miss that and you cannot keep driving professionally in the UK.

To drive in Europe you need the full 35 hours of International training first. You can only take a Return to Driving course once every 5 years. If your CPC has not expired, or lapsed fewer than 60 days ago, the 7 hours is added to your record as International training.

Some non-CPC courses count: up to 14 hours of dangerous goods (ADR) training, and up to 7 hours of others such as the Transport Manager CPC.

The hours you keep in TachoClear are your own notes. The authoritative record is the DVSA's own service, and there is a link to it on the CPC screen.

Worked example — Coming back after 18 months out

• CPC expired 18 months ago — under two years, so the return course is open
• Take the 7-hour Return to Driving course
• Drive in the UK as soon as the provider records it
• Complete 28 more hours within 12 months

For Europe you would need all 35 hours of International training before driving at all.

Source: GOV.UK, Driver CPC training for qualified drivers — How much training you need to do; Finding training courses; Become a qualified HGV or bus driver — Returning to be an HGV or bus driver

Guidance last updated: verified 26 July 2026

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

TachoClear is a planning aid, not the legal record — your tachograph is. Not legal advice.