Just to settle this for once and for all (and I'll be waiting for an apology)
When are drivers exempt from the EC rules?
Drivers are exempt from the EC drivers' hours rules and from the tachograph rules (see following questions) when engaged in the following transport operations anywhere in the European Community. UK Drivers Hours Rules may apply for the drivers' hours and record-keeping requirements for these operations.
Vehicles used for the carriage of goods where the maximum permissible weight of the vehicle, including any trailer or semi-trailer, does not exceed 3.5 tonnes
Vehicles with a maximum authorised speed not exceeding 30 kilometres per hour
Vehicles used by or under the control of the armed services, civil defence, fire services, and forces responsible for maintaining public order
Vehicles used in connection with the sewerage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity services, highway maintenance and control, refuse collection and disposal, telegraph and telephone services, carriage of postal articles, radio and television broadcasting and the detection of radio or television transmitters or receivers
Vehicles used in emergencies or rescue operations
Specialised vehicles used for medical purposes
Vehicles transporting circus and fun-fair equipment
Specialised breakdown vehicles
Vehicles undergoing road tests for technical development, repair or maintenance purposes, and new or rebuilt vehicles which have not yet been put into service. (This would not apply to vehicles, normally falling in scope of the EC rules, on journeys to Testing Stations for the purposes of an annual test)
Vehicles used for non-commercial carriage of goods for personal use
Vehicles used for milk collection from farms and the return to farms of milk containers or milk products intended for animal feed
Drivers are also exempt from the EC drivers' hours and tachograph rules when engaged in the following transport operations in the UK. In these instances UK Drivers Hours Rules may apply.
Vehicles used by agricultural, horticultural, forestry or fishery undertakings for carrying goods within a 50 kilometre radius of the place where the vehicle is normally based, including local administrative areas, the centres of which are situated within that radius. (In the case of fishery undertakings the exemption applies only to the movement of fish from landing to first processing on land and of live fish between fish farms)
Vehicles used for carrying animal waste or carcasses which are not intended for human consumption
Vehicles used for carrying live animals from farms to local markets and vice versa or from markets to local slaughterhouses
Vehicles used as shops at local markets or for door-to-door selling or used for mobile banking, exchange or saving transactions, for worship, for the lending of books, records or cassettes, for cultural events or exhibitions, and specially fitted for such uses
Vehicles with a maximum permissible weight of not more than 7.5 tonnes carrying material or equipment for the driver's use in the course of his work within a 50 kilometre radius of the place where the vehicle is normally based, provided that driving the vehicle does not constitute the driver's main activity
Vehicles operating exclusively on islands not exceeding 2,300 square kilometres in area, which are not linked to the rest of Great Britain by a bridge, ford or tunnel open for use by motor vehicles
Vehicles with a gross vehicle weight (including batteries) of not more than 7.5 tonnes used for the carriage of goods and solely propelled by means of gas or electricity (this does not include petrol or diesel start-up engines or any other type of dual-fuelled engine)
Vehicles used for driving instruction with a view to obtaining a driving licence, but excluding instruction on a journey connected with carrying a commercial load.