According to Amicus, Britain’s largest manufacturing union, three complaints about inadequate implementation of the directive were upheld: employer enforcement of workers’ rights to breaks and holidays; measurement of time voluntarily worked above normal working time, and the exclusion of night-shift overtime hours from the count towards normal hours. The Confederation of British Industry claims that the government has correctly balanced worker needs with the need for company flexibility.
See "Brussels starts action on working hours failure", Michael Mann, Financial Times, April 28, 2002