Lord Berkeleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support the proposal to exclude lorry owner-drivers from the provisions of the Working Time Directive. [HL4212]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty)The Government have been concerned about enforceability of regulations on total 69WA working time in relation to lorry owner-drivers. We believe that the main purpose of working time legislation is to protect employees from being forced to work long hours by employers, and only employed workers are covered by the main Working Time Directive EC 93/104, as amended by Directive 2000/34. Self-employed drivers have more freedom to work the hours they choose and to take rest when they please.
There is an interim proposal from the Commission to exclude the self-employed from the provisions of the directive, pending a review of the impact of the exclusion two years after implementation.