Tachograph Exemptions UK: Which Vehicles and Journeys Are Outside the Rules

The word "exempt" does a lot of work in transport offices, and much of it is wrong. A vehicle can be exempt from the EU drivers' hours rules and still need an operator licence. A journey can be exempt on Monday and in scope on Tuesday because a trailer was hitched. A van can be exempt for twenty years and then, from July 2026, need a tachograph for a trip to Calais. This guide sets out the exemptions as they apply in the UK, in the order an examiner would think about them.

Two different questions

The rules ask about the vehicle first and the journey second. A vehicle can be inside the scope of the regulation by weight but on a journey that one of the exemptions covers, and the exemption applies only while that journey lasts. The moment the same vehicle does something the exemption does not cover, the EU rules apply again and the tachograph must be used. Most exemption mistakes come from treating the vehicle as permanently exempt because it usually is.

What is in scope

Regulation (EC) 561/2006, kept in UK law after Brexit, applies to the carriage by road of:

• goods, where the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle, including any trailer or semi-trailer, exceeds 3.5 tonnes;
• goods in international transport for hire or reward, where the maximum permissible mass exceeds 2.5 tonnes, from 1 July 2026;
• passengers, by vehicles constructed or adapted for more than nine people including the driver.

The trailer clause is the one that catches vans. A 3.5-tonne van towing a 1.5-tonne trailer is a 5-tonne combination and is in scope for the whole journey, tachograph included. Our van tachograph rules guide covers the 2026 change for light vehicles on international work.

The exemptions that apply everywhere

Article 3 of the regulation takes the following out of scope in every country:

• Vehicles used for regular passenger services on a route not exceeding 50 km.
• Vehicles with a maximum authorised speed not exceeding 40 km/h.
• Vehicles owned or hired without a driver by the armed services, civil defence, fire services and forces responsible for maintaining public order, when the carriage is a consequence of their tasks.
• Vehicles used in emergencies or rescue operations, including the non-commercial transport of humanitarian aid.
• Specialised vehicles used for medical purposes.
• Specialised breakdown vehicles operating within a 100 km radius of their base.
• Vehicles undergoing road tests for technical development, repair or maintenance, and new or rebuilt vehicles not yet put into service.
• Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes used for the non-commercial carriage of goods.
• Commercial vehicles with historic status under the law of the country in which they are driven, used for the non-commercial carriage of passengers or goods.

Read the breakdown exemption carefully. It covers a specialised recovery vehicle on recovery work within 100 km. A recovery truck going 150 km to collect a vehicle is in scope, and a flatbed that is not a specialised breakdown vehicle is in scope at any distance.

The UK's national derogations

Article 13 lets each country exempt further categories, and the UK has adopted almost all of them through the Community Drivers' Hours and Recording Equipment Regulations. Unless stated, the vehicle must stay within a 100 km radius of the operator's base. The list:

• Vehicles owned or hired without a driver by public authorities to carry out road transport that does not compete with professional operators.
• Vehicles used or hired without a driver by agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery undertakings for carrying goods as part of their own business, within 100 km.
• Agricultural and forestry tractors used for agricultural or forestry activities within 100 km.
• Vehicles or combinations up to 7.5 tonnes used by universal postal service providers to deliver items as part of the universal service, within 100 km.
• Vehicles or combinations up to 7.5 tonnes carrying materials, equipment or machinery for the driver's use in the course of the driver's work, within 100 km, provided driving is not the driver's main activity. This is the tools-of-the-trade exemption, covered below.
• Vehicles operating exclusively on islands of 2,300 square kilometres or less not linked to the mainland by a bridge, ford or tunnel open to motor vehicles.
• Vehicles up to 7.5 tonnes propelled by natural gas, LPG or electricity, used for the carriage of goods within 100 km.
• Vehicles used for driving instruction and examination with a view to obtaining a driving licence or Driver CPC, provided they are not carrying goods or passengers for hire or reward.
• Vehicles used in connection with sewerage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity maintenance, road maintenance and control, door-to-door household refuse collection and disposal, telephone and telegraph services, radio and television broadcasting and the detection of transmitters or receivers.
• Vehicles with between 10 and 17 seats used exclusively for the non-commercial carriage of passengers.
• Specialised vehicles transporting circus and funfair equipment.
• Specially fitted mobile project vehicles whose primary purpose is use as an educational facility when stationary.
• Vehicles used for milk collection from farms and the return of milk containers or milk products intended for animal feed.
• Vehicles specially fitted for the carriage of money or valuables.
• Vehicles used for carrying animal waste or carcasses not intended for human consumption.
• Vehicles used exclusively on roads inside hub facilities such as ports, interports and railway terminals.
• Vehicles used for the carriage of live animals between a farm and a market, or from a market to a slaughterhouse, within 100 km.
• Vehicles used for the delivery of ready-mixed concrete, added by the 2020 Mobility Package.

Tools of the trade: the exemption everyone gets wrong

Four conditions, all of which have to be met at once: the vehicle is 7.5 tonnes or under including any trailer; what it carries is material, equipment or machinery for the driver's own use in the course of their work; it stays within 100 km of base; and driving is not the driver's main activity. A plumber's 7.5-tonne box van carrying their own kit to jobs is exempt. The same van driven by a warehouse employee delivering the merchant's stock to plumbers is not, because the goods are not for the driver's use and driving is the job. A landscaper towing their own digger on a trailer behind a pickup is usually exempt; the same pickup delivering a hired digger to a customer is not.

The phrase examiners test is "for the driver's use". If the driver hands the goods to someone else at the far end, the exemption has failed.

Exempt from the EU rules is not exempt from everything

An exempt vehicle over 3.5 tonnes still needs an operator licence, still needs safety inspections, and its driver is still subject to hours rules, just different ones:

• The GB domestic rules: no more than 10 hours driving in a day, no more than 11 hours on duty in any day on which the driver drives, and a written record of hours for vehicles that require an operator licence, unless a tachograph is used instead.
• The Working Time Regulations 1998 rather than the road transport version: the 48-hour average week, rest breaks, and the health and safety duty to manage fatigue.
• Any tachograph fitted to the vehicle may be used to keep the domestic record, in which case it must be calibrated and the driver card used properly; see calibration rules.

Mixed driving in the same week

A driver who does exempt and in-scope work in the same week is the case that produces most of the questions at audits. The rule is that on any day with in-scope driving, the EU rules govern the whole day, and the exempt driving that day counts as other work for the EU record. On days with no in-scope driving the domestic rules apply. Across the week, the EU weekly rest requirement stands regardless. Drivers in this position should keep the card in and select OUT for the exempt driving, so that the analysis can separate the two without guesswork; see OUT of scope and private use.

Recording an exempt journey on a fitted tachograph

A tachograph that is fitted does not have to be used for exempt driving, but if the driver leaves the card in and does nothing, the unit records driving, and the driving counts. The clean approach is to select OUT before moving off, leave the card in so the unit knows who was driving, and switch OUT off when the exempt journey ends. On a unit without the OUT function, or where the driver has no card, keep a written domestic record and note the exemption relied on. What does not work is pulling the card and driving anyway: the unit logs driving without a card as an event, and that event is the first thing a download analysis flags.

The penalties for relying on an exemption that does not apply

If an exemption is claimed and DVSA disagrees, the driving was in scope, and everything that follows from in-scope driving without a tachograph record follows: failing to use recording equipment, failing to keep records, and, if the hours would have been over the limit, the drivers' hours infringements on top. Graduated fixed penalties run to £300 per offence, a prohibition is likely at the roadside, and the operator's OCRS takes the hit. The burden is on the operator to show that the exemption applied, which means keeping the evidence: job sheets showing what was carried and for whom, the radius from base, and the vehicle's weight plate.

Five questions before you rely on an exemption

1. What is the maximum permissible mass of the vehicle with the trailer it is towing today?
2. Is the journey within 100 km of the operating centre, measured as a radius, not by road?
3. Who uses the goods at the other end: the driver, or someone else?
4. Is driving the driver's main activity this week, whatever the job title says?
5. Is any part of today's work in scope? If so, the EU rules cover the whole day.

Operators running a mixed fleet find it easier to put a tachograph and a card in everything over 3.5 tonnes and let the download analysis sort exempt from in-scope, rather than police the exemption at the yard gate. The Fleetalyse tachograph page explains how the downloads and the driver-hours reporting work together.

Frequently asked questions

Do vans need a tachograph in the UK?

Not for national work at 3.5 tonnes or under, unless a trailer takes the combination over 3.5 tonnes. From 1 July 2026, vans of 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes carrying goods for hire or reward on international journeys need a Smart 2 tachograph and fall under the EU rules for those journeys.

Is a 7.5-tonne vehicle exempt from tachograph rules?

Only if one of the exemptions applies to its use: non-commercial carriage, tools of the trade within 100 km, postal delivery within 100 km, or gas and electric propulsion within 100 km, among others. A 7.5-tonne vehicle delivering goods commercially is in scope.

What is the 100 km rule?

Most national derogations apply only while the vehicle operates within a radius of 100 kilometres of the operator's base. It is a straight-line radius, not a road distance, and it is measured from the base, not from the first drop.

Does a horsebox need a tachograph?

A horsebox of 7.5 tonnes or under used non-commercially does not. A horsebox over 7.5 tonnes, or any horsebox used commercially, for example transporting horses for payment or as part of a business, is in scope.

If I drive under the domestic rules, do I still need the tachograph?

Not for the exempt driving itself, but the domestic rules still require a record of hours for vehicles that need an operator licence, and a fitted tachograph is the easiest way to keep it. If you use it, use it properly: card in, OUT selected, unit calibrated.