Rest, compensation and return: what you're actually owed
Updated 26 June 2026
Three different things that get mixed up all the time — and that many employers "forget": the length of your weekly rest, the compensation for reduced rest periods, and the right to go home. Here is what the rules actually say.
1. Weekly rest: 45 h, and where you can take it
Every week, you are entitled to a weekly rest: either regular (at least 45 h), or reduced (at least 24 h).
🏨The 45 h CANNOT be taken in the truck. It must be taken away from the vehicle (hotel or accommodation), and the cost is borne by the employer. You must be able to prove it (invoice).
🛏️The reduced (24 h) rest, on the other hand, can be taken in the truck.
Source: Article 8(8) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006.
2. Compensation for reduced rest (the trap nobody respects)
A reduced rest is rest "on credit". You don't erase the missing hours: you owe them.
The calculation: deficit = 45 h − the time actually taken.
• You take 26 h → you owe 19 h.
• You take 24 h → you owe 21 h.
This time must be attached as a single block to a later rest, before the end of the 3rd week that follows. And if you take two reduced rests in a row, the deficits add up. Source: Article 8(6). In practice, it's one of the least respected rules in the job — these owed hours just vanish.
3. Going home: every 3 to 4 weeks (≠ the rest)
Careful, this is yet another thing. Taking your 45 h in a hotel abroad satisfies the "away from the truck" rule… but not the right to return. The employer must organise your work so that you take a weekly rest at your home (or at the operational centre):
✅at least every 4 weeks;
✅every 3 weeks after two consecutive reduced weekly rests.
Source: Article 8(8a) (Mobility Package 2020). In reality, very rarely respected — including at "serious" companies: it's not uncommon to see drivers stay months on the road without going home.
4. The truck too: return to the home country every 8 weeks
The vehicle must return to an operational centre in the company's country of establishment within 8 weeks (Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009, amended in 2020). This is the rule against "letterbox" companies.
5. The Gen2 tacho, and keeping the proof
The smart tachograph (Gen2) records GPS positions and border crossings; your driver card keeps a record of your rests (durations, reduced rests, compensations). All of that is proof.
General information, not legal advice. The exact classifications depend on your situation, your contract and any possible derogations. If in doubt: union, labour inspectorate, legal advice.
🗂️ Your evidence vault for the day you leave
TruckerMaster reads your driver card and the GPS trace from your tachograph: reduced rests never compensated, rest hours owed, returns that never happened. You build up the file quietly — and you decide when to use it.
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