If you have/been on the same route day after day (or night), how long is your longest time period? I’ve been doing the exact same start-stop 1- stop 2-home EVERY SINGLE NIGHT 5 nights a week for like 11 weeks now and I hate my life I hope the company goes bankrupt or I get sacked because that’s the only way out for me now. I can’t imagine doing that for a year or longer. Fml
ETS:
If you have/been on the same route day after day (or night), how long is your longest time period? I’ve been doing the exact same start-stop 1- stop 2-home EVERY SINGLE NIGHT 5 nights a week for like 11 weeks now and I hate my life I hope the company goes bankrupt or I get sacked because that’s the only way out for me now. I can’t imagine doing that for a year or longer. Fml
Just leave you remoaner
Just under…
3 years doing London-Gibrlatar-London. The re-loads would vary along the Spanish coast and into France sometimes (with a really wild backload from Holland once) but, the southbound run down almost never changed.
I know guys that do base to pallet hub (same one every night) and back and have been doing it for years. Suits them and happy with their lot.
Also, guys have been at my place for 25yrs doing a small variety of stores every day, or on nights doing a Donny, Bedford or Lutterworth every shift. Again, suits them and happy with it. I get the hump sometimes with the lack of variety, but its a pretty easy gig. Dont get me wrong, I’m always on the lookout for something to stimulate me but sometimes its better the devil you know.
Plenty of work out there if you look hard enough, better to leave on decent terms than get yourself sacked. Never know when that tedious same old may be a mortgage saver in the future.
I could not think of anything worse than doing the same ■■■■ trunk every day or worse every night, back home and start again the next day…and the next.
Soul destroying 
…you must just switch off.
Ok I do the same S.West run every week, but at least the drops and the order of drops vary, and I don’t park in the same places.
ETS:
If you have/been on the same route day after day (or night), how long is your longest time period? I’ve been doing the exact same start-stop 1- stop 2-home EVERY SINGLE NIGHT 5 nights a week for like 11 weeks now and I hate my life I hope the company goes bankrupt or I get sacked because that’s the only way out for me now. I can’t imagine doing that for a year or longer. Fml
Why wait for the firm to go bust or whatever…just jack and do something else. 
robroy:
I could not think of anything worse than doing the same [zb] trunk every day or worse every night, back home and start again the next day…and the next.
Soul destroyingOk I do the same S.West run every week, but at least the drops and the order of drops vary, and I don’t park in the same places.
I did 5 years on a business park shuttle bus, park to rail station and back, total of 3.1 miles each way, 12hrs a day 5 days a week 
3hrs in the morning, break, 3hrs lunchtime, break and 3 hrs to finish. That is proper brain dead 
Thought you were on agency?
Don’t do a single run, but normally do around 5 different runs throughout the week, but the worst is the same run twice in a night involving a long run down the M1 and another hour on the A14 then back. Generally 13 hours only broken up by fighting with curtains and straps in the rain.
If doing that, you need podcasts or a lot of music to keep you going especially at night, since Radio 2 is trying to be Radio 1 and Rad 4 is The Guardian newspaper of the radio.
Fuzrat:
I know guys that do base to pallet hub (same one every night) and back and have been doing it for years. Suits them and happy with their lot.
I generally do two runs a day from Rugby to TPN at Minworth. Normally at least seven hours of a ten hour shift is just sitting around. I don’t think I could do it as a permanent job, it’s just a means to an end, namely saving as much as I can over the Winter so I can go away boating in the Summer.
For interest, it doesn’t really compare to a run down to Athens or Istanbul or Moscow but sadly those days are in the past now and won’t be coming back. Even if they did, I’m just too old for it now, I have neither the enthusiasm or resilience for it any more. I won’t even do nights out nowadays.
So, yes, it suits me, for the time being at least.
robroy:
Why wait for the firm to go bust or whatever…just jack and do something else.
It was a half arsed joke. money is good, decent hours (under 50 per week), dead easy work, 5 minute drive from home. It’s just the repetitiveness. I don’t even look at the time anymore, I can tell +/- 1 or 2 minutes just by looking where I am. I used to hate road closures, now they’re the only thing that makes me feel alive
ETS:
robroy:
Why wait for the firm to go bust or whatever…just jack and do something else.It was a half arsed joke. money is good, decent hours (under 50 per week), dead easy work, 5 minute drive from home. It’s just the repetitiveness. I don’t even look at the time anymore, I can tell +/- 1 or 2 minutes just by looking where I am. I used to hate road closures, now they’re the only thing that makes me feel alive
Ok, so as someone said, make sure you’ve got plenty of entertainment to while away the hours and boredom, podcasts or talking books do it for me.
trevHCS:
Thought you were on agency?Don’t do a single run, but normally do around 5 different runs throughout the week, but the worst is the same run twice in a night involving a long run down the M1 and another hour on the A14 then back. Generally 13 hours only broken up by fighting with curtains and straps in the rain.
If doing that, you need podcasts or a lot of music to keep you going especially at night, since Radio 2 is trying to be Radio 1 and Rad 4 is The Guardian newspaper of the radio.
Podcasts have been a game changer for a while but I ran out of good ones to listen to. I drive 7,7.5 hrs per night so I burn through them faster than they can make them. If anyone can suggest a good one not sport related… like Joe Rogan-esque with more interesting guests.
Feltham-Haydock or Charnock Richard or Killington Lake-Feltham on Scottish changeover depending how late the Scotch was running.
Every night 5 nights a week for around 4 years of the 15 I did on night trunking.
Then around another 3 years doing Feltham/Luton - Dewsbury- Felthjam.
We used to rotate runs on a weekly basis before that but I actually volunteered to stay on the longer runs for longer.
All far better than the change to hub system working meaning a couple of hours run to the Midlands then work in the warehouse on the sort then a couple of hours back.
Let alone driving a building supplies truck locally around the houses mixed with loads of labouring duties on site or in the yard on agency.
yourhavingalarf , when you did the Gibraltar round trips, was it for Morrisons ? On a sub contract but I can’t remember the hauliers, the lads were double manned ?
It was normal to tip Gib then run empty to Alicante/Valencia or even Barcelona for a back load .
Going down, did you take the National 121 via Irun/Pamplona to Madrid then then the National 5 to Malaga or from Irun to Vitoria / Burgos Red Cap territory ?
trevHCS:
Thought you were on agency?Don’t do a single run, but normally do around 5 different runs throughout the week, but the worst is the same run twice in a night involving a long run down the M1 and another hour on the A14 then back. Generally 13 hours only broken up by fighting with curtains and straps in the rain.
If doing that, you need podcasts or a lot of music to keep you going especially at night, since Radio 2 is trying to be Radio 1 and Rad 4 is The Guardian newspaper of the radio.
Can i suggest listening to TalkRadio…always good unbias debate on that station
Tarmaceater:
yourhavingalarf , when you did the Gibraltar round trips, was it for Morrisons ? On a sub contract but I can’t remember the hauliers, the lads were double manned ?
It was normal to tip Gib then run empty to Alicante/Valencia or even Barcelona for a back load .
Going down, did you take the National 121 via Irun/Pamplona to Madrid then then the National 5 to Malaga or from Irun to Vitoria / Burgos Red Cap territory ?
My first stint on…
Continental Express was when it was for Safeways. The fleet was almost all Scania 530s with three pedals. I left and came back when Morrisons took Safeway over. The fleet was Scania 480s with two pedals. We then loaded out of Burton Latimer, onto the train and then Rouen, Bordeaux, Irun, Pamplona, Madrid and then south from there. First night we usually got to Sunbilla and then Gib the following morning.
Magoo (total nutter but still a star geeza) was the only single crew I can ever remember, everyone else was teamed up.
ETS:
Podcasts have been a game changer for a while but I ran out of good ones to listen to.
Depends alot what you listen to.I’ve burned through the whole of BBC4’s Infinite Monkey Cage and Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry - neither is your usual R4 drivel. Gave up in other ones as thry were 90% vanging on about climate change or covid.
Talk Radio - isn’t that otherwise known as the 15th circle of hell? 
18 years going from Llanelli to the Palletline Central Hub. I’m quite happy with it - I know what time I start and finish, I don’t need a map or sat nav, (I’ve done just about every diversion possible!) the money is reasonable and the work is easy. I have hundreds of audio books, Spotify, Netflix and about 200GB of music on my cloud so I’m never bored. Once out of the yard I never hear from the office and several of us are in touch by hands-free phone much of the night.
I spent 25 years teaching and playing brass instruments - believe me, that was no less boring at times. Each to his/her own - I can appreciate people who get bored doing the same run but it doesn’t bother me. The traffic is never the same and there is always something “different” to stop you falling asleep!
There are people I see at the hub who were there long before I started, so I don’t think I’m anywhere near the worst.
I did Grantham - Haywood distrubution - Grantham , Grantham - glous ( downtons) - Grantham , hours were stupid , 5.30 - 12.00 latest , finish midnight Friday , start 5.30 mon , get up 7 am every day & not leave for work until 16.45
Also Grantham - glous - Grantham - Heywood ( night out ) , then Haywood - Grantham - Gloucester - Grantham
Was paid 20 hrs , 2 wages as it should of been 1 drive Grantham - glous - Grantham , 1 Grantham - glous - Grantham , but driver left & me & Brian covered it between us , but a new manager of company we subbed too started , he said if he was paying 2 wages , he wanted 2 drivers , so I threw dummy out Pram as was still only 8/9 hrs a night for 20 hrs pay & left
Did go back recently on agency , did Grantham - swanley - Grantham , Grantham - Haywood - Grantham , doddle , offerd full time job , but couldn’t see me loading / unloading 100 ish lorry tyres a day ( rigid , days ) so didn’t take job offer up
ArcticMonkey:
Can i suggest listening to TalkRadio…always good unbias debate on that station
Really, you call the 2 idiots between 7pm. and 10pm “unbias(ed)”? The only one I listen to is Christo but he’s only on for 3 hours and the last 1 hour is talk about entertainment. JHB is alright but she’s only on in the morning so by the time I listen to the recording it’s old news already. That and the repetitive ad blocks every 15 mins + same 3 news stories every half hour caused me to stop listening to that station.