March/April 2005

A week later than intended, the much-debated and feared Road Transport Directive came into force in the UK on 4 April. It limits transport drivers' working time to an average of 48 hours in a working week, which compares with a possible 60 hours thirty years ago.

The UK Government has admitted that it could spell a 9 per cent loss of productivity for Britain, and a cost of £1 billion.

At an event in March hosted by Masternaut and Microsoft and attended largely by hauliers, m.logistics invited a show of hands from all delegates who were in favour of the new rules. Not one did so.

The Freight Transport Association has warned that the change will result in the need for substantial rescheduling of distribution operations, and will increase the already severe shortage of drivers (around 40,000) by a further 25,000.

However, the advent of the system has prompted many technology suppliers to come up with new solutions to recording and analysing driver's hours.

Masternaut was promoting its Hourtrak system at the Microsoft seminar, and other recent systems include a PDA-based solution from Mandata, rivalling the one offered for the past year by rival Road Tech. And Wire3 Technology has come up with an interesting and voguish slant, using RFID to identify drivers (a key requirement).

Key features of the scheme include:

• An average 48 hour week (no opt-out available)
• A maximum of 60 hours in any week
• A maximum 10 hour night work limit
• Night-time is between 00.00hrs and 04.00hrs for goods vehicles and between 01.00 and 05.00 for passenger vehicles
• A 30-minute break if working time totals between six and nine hours, or 45 minutes of over nine hours. Breaks can be subdivided into minimum periods of 15 minutes.