Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of information provided to horticultural businesses on the installation of tachographs in horticultural vehicles which operate within 100 kilometres of their home base and also deliver third party goods.

Whether or not a vehicle needs a tachograph depends on whether the vehicle falls under scope of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 (“the EU drivers’ hours rules”) as retained in UK Law. The EU drivers' hours rules, which require the use of tachographs and prescribe maximum limits on driving time and minimum requirements for breaks and rest periods, apply to drivers of most vehicles used for the carriage of goods, where the maximum permissible weight of the vehicle (or combinations of vehicle and trailer) exceeds 3.5 tonnes. In this context goods is defined as goods or burden of any description.

There are a number of specific exemptions and national derogations, including for: “Vehicles used or hired without a driver by agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery undertakings for carrying goods as part of their own entrepreneurial activity within a radius of 100 km from the base of the undertaking.”.

If the vehicle is used for the delivery of third party goods, this national derogation would not apply and the vehicle would need to have a tachograph fitted. The driver would need to comply with the retained EU drivers’ hours rules.

This national derogation has been in place since 2007 and should be well known to the horticultural industry. There is detailed information on the gov.uk website on drivers’ hours, including advice on exemptions and national derogations. The Government has not made any assessment on the adequacy of information provided.