Is this allowed?!

[ConcernedSpouse2020]

DH works as a field engineer which means he drives to breakdowns all day fixing them covering the whole of the North East Region. His normal working hours are 7-4 but he had a breakdown early this morning so was at the breakdown for 6am. More breakdowns have come in after his shift was supposed to finish at 4 so his boss has sent him to these, he is still out now and has just been given ANOTHER breakdown almost 2 hours away. This is going to see him out driving up and down motorways (obviously not counting the time that he is stopped and working) from 5:30am to ..... he’s estimating around 10pm if another call doesn’t come in. Surely this is not legal? He’s just rang me utterly exhausted saying it’s the most tired he has ever been! I think the company is disgusting to be putting their employees at risk like this. Can anyone advise please?

It depends how long was he stopped for, how many calls did he do etc

It’s not the hours, it’s how long he drove for in that period.

Is it a clause in his contract?

Nope no clauses in contract just base hours but he has opted out of the 48 hours a week clause. I’m just concerned about the driving and tiredness, is there a law to how many hours someone can drive in a single shift. He’s questioned his boss, his boss said he wouldn’t be concerned unless he was on shift for a full 24 hours. Also, they haven’t provided additional breaks etc? Anything I’m missing?

Does his driving come under tachograph rules or non tacho?

For the former there are very strict rules, for the latter there are very few.

Only if he’s under a tachograph op then it’s nine hours. With a stop every four and a half

He’s not under a tacho graph I assume, and he will have plenty of stops. Because he doesn’t drive for a living. So no this won’t break any rules.