FTA's Deputy Chief Executive James Hookham said, "Today is a very significant day for the road transport industry across Europe. The 1st May date for digital tachographs is the culmination of more than ten years of work and development, negotiation and regulation, involving the transport industry, the UK Government and the European Union. Now comes the massive task of training drivers and managers on both the operation of the unit and the management of systems and record keeping.

"The drivers' hours regulations are vastly different from those which were first proposed some years ago and represent a massive win for FTA in what they no longer contain. FTA successfully defeated some of the most damaging amendments proposed by the EU institutions. It had been proposed to extend the scope of the legislation to vehicles less than 3.5 tonnes. However, this proposal was abandoned, as was the proposal to increase the daily rest requirement to 12 hours. While the argument for retaining the ability to reduce weekly rest on consecutive weeks was lost, it is important to remember that the outcome was an improvement on the Commission's original proposal which would have put an end to reduced rest at base.

"FTA was the only body in Europe fighting for and winning the case for retaining the exemption for essential utility services. A concession for this group of services has been retained but has been transferred to the list of national derogations.

"FTA still has major concerns on the requirement, from 1st May 2006, for drivers to produce current week plus previous 15 days records at the roadside and the potential this could have for creating difficulty in managing the weekly 48 hour average working time, and which could also impact on the efficient monitoring of drivers' hours. FTA will be offering members support in dealing with this.

"We are also very concerned that from April 2007 the new regulation will put an end to reducing weekly rest in consecutive weeks and the impact this will have on weekly schedules. Effectively this means that in every other week drivers' availability will be reduced to five days. However, we now have a year to determine how best to manage these problems.

"FTA members will be receiving comprehensive details of all of the new requirements together with our range of services designed to support and assist them. We have been at the forefront of negotiating those regulations and our services have been tailored to match the needs."