In June, the European Parliament voted in favour of including self-employed lorry drivers within the 2002 Directive on the organisation of the working time of lorry and bus drivers.
Previously, self-employed drivers could spend up to 56 hours/week driving as long as they drove no more than 90 hours over a two-week period. This change means that drivers will be limited to working a total of 48 hours per week including maintenance, loading and administrative work. As self employed drivers need to spend many hours per week on such tasks on such tasks, the amount of time that they will be allowed to drive will be seriously curtailed and in many instances will make self employment no longer a viable option.
The Federation of Small Businesses , supported by business leaders and MEPs, has called on the European Commission to stand by its proposal not to include self-employed lorry drivers within the working time regulations. We can only hope the European Commission shows some common sense for a change.