Victory for UK transport on EU Working Time Directive

Fewer lorries on UK roads will be the result from a recent European Union decision on working time.

The EU has decided that under the application of the Working Time Directive to the transport sector night lorry operations can work on a ten-hour shift in preference to the eight-hour limit, which was threatened.

The Freight Transport Association (FTA), which campaigned long and hard at both Westminster and Brussels, hailed the decision as a victory which has removed the prospect of UK transport being required to carry out a major re-organisation of distribution systems, depot locations, manpower and additional lorry journeys, at a cost of many hundreds of millions of pounds.

FTA Policy Director James Hookham said: “An eight-hour night shift would have been an economic and environmental disaster for the UK. In our congested roads infrastructure it is absolutely vital that, for the benefit of both industry and ordinary motorists, we maximise night lorry operations. The eight-hour limit would have pushed lorries into daytime congestion where neither industry nor other road users wanted them.

“The common sense decision for a ten-hour night shift removes the need for a massive shake-up in UK distribution which would have cost a fortune and benefited nobody. The FTA is delighted that its campaign at Westminster and Brussels has succeeded - this is a major victory for the UK transport industry.”

In addition to the ten-hour night shift the EU also agreed that the definition of night-time should mean a period of at least four hours between midnight and 7am to be defined by national law. Though how this has to be applied in practice in the UK is under discussion. (SP)