The Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has enforced further legislation which affects anyone driving a horsebox at weekends. Anyone with a full time job could now be prevented from driving their HGV at weekends.

Under the new legislation, people must take rest periods between 24 and 45 hours each week. However, this rest period is not just a rest from driving — individuals must rest from work for a set number of hours if they are to drive their vehicle within the law. This means any rider or parent of a rider who has a full-time job, unconnected to their hobby, is not legally able to drive a large horsebox for both days of every weekend. A VOSA spokesman confirmed: “Other work, as well as driving hours, are counted as duty days — i.e. working in an office from Monday to Friday counts as five daily periods, therefore after the sixth day, the driver requires a weekly rest period.”

Previous advice given to the British Equestrian Federation (BEF), its member bodies and the British Horse Society (BHS) stated that legislation did not apply to private horseboxes. The BHS handles many calls each week from confused drivers. BHS welfare executive Rachel Molloy said: “This is going to be huge. It’s not what we were led to believe — all sources of information we have received so far — from VOSA and Defra to the media — have said all along this legislation didn’t apply to private horseboxes.” She added: “There must be a huge amount of non-compliance out there — people won’t know they’re breaking the law.”

To check that you are driving your horsebox within the law, see our summary of the Drivers' Hours Regulations.