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Q Could you please give me information on the maximum number
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of miles a driver is allowed to cover in his permitted 10-hour driving day? Also, can a driver be prosecuted by the DoE or the police for doing too many miles in the said time?
Recently I had a journey of 340 miles which I completed in 10 hours driving plus two half-hour off-duty breaks. On this journey I did not use any motorway; the roads I drove on for 260 miles were 'A' class dual-carriageways, the remaining 80 miles were good A' class roads on which a 30-ton Foden, powered by a Gardner 180 engine, could keep up a good steady speed. This journey was done quite easily by my standards. In your opinion was this too much for the type of vehicle in the hours, and was it breaking the law?
AThere is no set limit in this country (un
like the Continent} on the mileage a driver may drive during his statutory 10 hours driving period and neither the police nor DoE officials can bring a prosecution on the basis of miles driven in a day. What can happen is that if they find by examining your record sheet at a later date that you appear to have covered an excessive distance they will suspect that you exceeded the permitted driving hours for that day, and then it would be necessary for you to prove otherwise by some means. This proof could take the form of time-clock cards at the booking-on and -off points, or works tickets with a departure time recorded or, of course, by a tachograph chart if you have such an instrument fitted. This type of case is one that highlights the advantages to drivers of having tachographs fitted.
So far as the specific journey you quoted is concerned, this appears to be in order except that we would have reservations about the possibility of averaging 34 mph over a distance of 340 miles without exceeding the 40 mph maximum speed allowed for the vehicle on the type of roads used and without exceeding 30 mph through restricted areas; there must have been some of these on the route but again the police are not in a position to prosecute on the basis of average speeds. They must check the speed at the time of the offence either by a radar device or by pacing with a patrol car or motorcycle.
From the vehicle performance point of view we are quite sure that the vehicle is capable of such a performance and driving it at this rate, provided it was driven correctly, would have no detrimental effect on it whatever.