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Recovery operators and the drivers' hours regs
Page 37
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Like the emergency services, recovery operators used to be exempt from the drivers' hours rules. But that is set to change on 11 April.
Recovery operators will have to use tachographs for jobs that are more than 100km away. This will affect the hours they can work in a given day and the days they can subsequently work in that week. AVRO's Gary Satchwell predicts increased congestion. "It will take longer to clear roads because recovery operators will have done their hours," he says. "They haven't looked at the implications. The industry relies on flexibility of personnel to cope."
The association was due to hold its own meeting with the DfT and Vasa last week. "Policing is an issue," Satchwell continues. "We believe there will be problems of interpretation as there are grey areas connected with the use of tachos." Whether operators will have to have them installed for every single journey is still a moot point.
Chris Wright, RHA RAG director, says flexibility will be impaired. "New drivers' hours are going to have a big impact on how long recovery firms can work. You can plan a haulage operation but, with recovery, forward planning is not usually an option. Emergencies are not planned and you don't know what your staff are going to be doing in five minutes' time."
One thing is certain: hauliers looking for their broken-clown, time-sensitive loads to be recovered to their destination may be disappointed in future.