None at all on nights out…lost too many days over over the water years ago with hangovers from hell.
Just have a few cans at weekends or maybe a few glasses of wine that does me nowadays.
Old hand once told me “minimum 15 hours between bottle and throttle”.
Personally teetotal, as said previously the sake of a can or the worse happening out on the road!
However, back when we were direct for the old gaff me and another driver had the same drop on Friday (his daughters b’day) morning. He had badgered the planner all week for an early finish. Anyway we managed to get down there the night beforehand. He is due to tip the box then back to they yard, me im tip and then collection out of Southall back to Immingham and run in Saturday.
Now me I dont mind pushing my luck and being cheeky, so instead of an 11:00 Friday tip it ended up as a 20:00 Thursday tip, warehouse tells me to tell the other driver that he’s ok to be tipped now as well. Wander across and see his curtains drawn but his passenger door is open.
‘‘He says your good to be tipped now if you want?’’
‘‘Yeah he said I could be when I came in but to be honest I just want to take the edge of the day with a can and a ■■■!’’
At that point Im walking away thinking the bloke is a prat. He rang me up the next day moaning that they had kept him waiting so instead of tipping at 08:00 he still isnt on the bay and its now gone 14:00. He finally left the drop at 16:00.
Needless to say I was so pleased!! So for the sake of a can he ended up missing most of his daughters birthday!!
3 drivers from the same firm sat in someones cab can soon demolish a slab of Fosters or Heineken or in our case Primus, everyone had at least 24 bottles in their side locker.
First night out I did I took 4 bottles of beer with me. In a lay-bye just off J8 of M25 and was sitting in the drivers seat with keys in the ignition on my third bottle when the police parked up right in front of me.
Cop jumped out for a sly smoke just as I was putting down my bottle. He glared at me and I froze not knowing whether to jump in to the bunk or draw the curtains whilst seeing my licence and job go down the pan.
Since then I’ve not bothered with having a beer in the cab. If I need to night out it means I have done max hours and pretty much need to go straight to sleep anyway. And a few beers can mess up a good nights sleep.
Wheel Nut:
3 drivers from the same firm sat in someones cab can soon demolish a slab of Fosters or Heineken or in our case Primus, everyone had at least 24 bottles in their side locker.
Kin primus . . . would take the enamel off your teeth 
Did you stock up @ Alverighem(spolling) 
bubsy06:
The Sarge:
bubsy06:
Nicking tractor fuel and drink driving are at different ends of the spectrum mate
Drink drivers kill, fuel thieves just end up with more money in there pocketWho says he was drunk? He may have had a couple of cans a night for the last fortnight, and his locker was full of empties
There you go sticking your beak in on something you don’t know about - thought you didn’t care?
If i seen a driver launching 20 empty cans out of his window I would be straight on the phone to the rozzers
Better safe than dead or without a family member
LOL @ the complete hypocrites on this site.
If i was out for the week first stop Calais for a slab of Stella(5.2 wife beater) or a couple of cases of Budweiser , and fill the frigo before setting off, i can’t drink warm beer ,Not allot else to do when weekended on a service area with sod all around for miles ,As for drinking on a night out, now and then, but in moderation ,
I remember once we had tipped at a place in france early in the morning, parked in their yard had our 8hrs off (double manned )
That evening we had to find another place to park, as they closed down until the following morning & the local village was dead no sign of anything open,like a ghost town,lol
So we drove to a nearby town called Hirson we parked the truck in a empty car park, it was a nice quiet town, we got some euros from the hole in wall, found the local kebab shop ,then serveral pubs/bars we must of sampled nearly all beers that they had on draught, the one called leffe blond was the best IMO ,we got shirtfaced,
Next morning i woke up,for a pish, climbed out of the truck still half asleep, started to wash the back wheel, and became aware of activity on the other side of the truck, got back in and peered out of the window, there was a market setting up,lol so action stations it was,
I woke my co driver up, got ready to roll in record time, and got out of there before we got boxed in, on our way out i noticed a gendarme parked up, i thought he was gonna stop us, and utter those all too familiar words (you must pay ■■■ euros ) or even worse,
we got our reload later that day, Dijon, and the place we had to collect from was in the center of the city/town, we could not collect until the next day, we found a bar nearby, well it would of been rude not of have sampled the local brew,lol we even got a few drinks bought us by some of the locals, beats sitting in the truck
Sounds like we where alcoholics, but that isn’t the case, i can take it or leave it,
i sometimes go weeks without so much as 1 can of beer, don’t know about anything else but it certainly piles on the pounds does the drinking
I have a can or two most nights when parked up usualy the early hrs, knowing I will not need to drive for at least 12 hrs, my way of relaxing,tonight I have had a good session and the car will be on the drive till 3pm monday when I go to pick the wife up from work, so tommorow may well see a few more, but last drink will be about 8pm sunday, allowing 18 hrs + to be sober, not back in work till 1900 Monday.
Have in the past had some daft nights out, especially when in digs before sleeper cabs were the norm, but on a night out now 3 cans = 12 hrs before getting behind the wheel, and if out driving lime & soda is the tipple, lose my licence at my age and will be consinged to the scrapheap.
Old hand once told me “minimum 15 hours between bottle and throttle”.
Nicely plagiarised by him from a famous edict for pilots then, and I think it was more like 8 hours, but airline pilots we are not, gentlemen.
I used to have a few cans with me when I was tramping away for days, i’m sensitive to atmosphere and a few drinks in the evening, if I had enough time, used to help it feel less like work to me.
I do tire of hearing about the good old days from my boss and others, about when they used to all meet up in a major city, go out clubbing till all hours, staggering back to the truck steaming with stunning ladies on each arm, and stumbling around trying to get the casettes in the stereo, to bang the night away. Taken with however much of a grain of salt, as you wish.
Different world now, and we all know you are to be considered fortunate to get 11 hours off, let alone be anywhere near civilisation or someone you can go for a drink with. Satellite tracked, under constant surveillance by the powers that be, and villified as the evil of the roads by the general public and media. Might as well forget it to be honest.
Also not sure I could face 15 hours of the usual general haulage related tedium of distribution centres, warehouses and waiting rooms, with a hangover. It’s hard enough to tolerate it sober.
Just so people can gauge how alcohol units work because some people don’t know, to those that do sorry for preaching!
Your body can get rid of alcohol at a rate of 1 unit an hour, thats after the first hour, so 1 unit gone after 2 hours! If you fancy a couple of cans of an evening the way to work it out is this. Lets say you drink Lager with 5% alcohol, if you drink a litre then you will have consumed 5 units, 6 hours and your clear of alcohol. If your poison is whisky 40% alcohol, if you drank a litre of this, 40 units, it would be 42 hours before you were clean of alcohol!
So what ever your preferred poison is, take the amount of alchol by volume and thats how many points are in a litre of your chosen tipple.
The Sarge:
mr lordi:
Usually just one or two tinnies in the comfort of my traveling abode.I think that’ll be my limit now as well
I can’t afford to go round the pub when I’m sat at home, I sure ain’t gonna be doing it whilst I’m away…
1 per night for me, helps me sleep but anymore than 1 and, a) I’d have to get up for a ■■■■ in the middle of the night, can’t be arsed gettin’ dressed etc, so just have 1. And b) I can’t usually stop at 2, 1 is fine, but 2 becomes 12 far too easily.
I usually take a 6 pack if I’m tramping, that limits me to 1 per night (ish) but sometimes I just don’t fancy any and sometimes I might be parked for 12hrs or more, so I’ll have 2 whilst watching a film on the lappy, but early enough, before I go for my ■■■■ and shower before bed.
waynedl:
The Sarge:
mr lordi:
Usually just one or two tinnies in the comfort of my traveling abode.I think that’ll be my limit now as well
1 per night for me, helps me sleep but anymore than 1 and, a) I’d have to get up for a ■■■■ in the middle of the night, can’t be arsed gettin’ dressed etc, so just have 1. And b) I can’t usually stop at 2, 1 is fine, but 2 becomes 12 far too easily.
I usually take a 6 pack if I’m tramping, that limits me to 1 per night (ish) but sometimes I just don’t fancy any and sometimes I might be parked for 12hrs or more, so I’ll have 2 whilst watching a film on the lappy, but early enough, before I go for my ■■■■ and shower before bed.
This is my problem these days, if I went out for 4 pints I would be up all night ■■■■■■■■■■
I don’t take any cans with me as I can’t be bothered drinking in the cab on my own, but occasionally I go for a pint when parked up with mates but 4 is my limit and only when I have a late start, I like 8 hours sleep a night minimum
I quit drinking 3 years ago as I didn’t like ■■■■■■■ my wages away but since I’ve been tramping I have started a beer or 2 on the long breaks, in my line of work you can work your nuts off days on end and then end up with a 60 hour break so it’s nice to have the option.
There are a few beer monsters I have seen though on the rock and roll. Saw one driver so para he stripped to his boxers and was running round the car park making plane noises, he tried to drive out the next day and security confiscated his keys and told him if he didn’t park up for at least another 6 hours they would phone his boss.
i used to think the reason to have a night out was to sample
different ales i couldnt get at home
who in there right mind wants to spend lesuire time cooped up in a tin prison
I understand the need to get out of the cab, don’t understand the need to get ■■■■■■ when working the next day. I’ve done it in the past when I was younger, got too much to lose now and couldn’t live with a fatality on my conscience through having had too many beers night before. And it’s cheaper not to drink to I don’t like spending money in the week 
personally i don’t drink on nights out because to be honest it eats into my money i stay out to earn not to spend
BJD I have been parked for 40 mins now about to open my second/last can and will not drtive till 2000 tonight, at 30 cans for a tenner Iwill have slurped a whole £1.50 tonight out of my £25.60 allowance, I have ate food from home possibly cost another squid, so not losing out, TBH my night out allowance is not part of my wage, if I get a bob or two more than I spend its a bonus, but to treat it as part of your wage,and not spend brass and go without is the reason the gaffers continue to get away with paying a ■■■■■ wage, as you treat that part of your earnings.
The sooner all drivers accept night out money is to cover expenses, and not part of there wage the better, you may take home £5 ton a week but if £1 ton is exsenses accept you are being paid £4 ton, then work out your houlry rate.Would you let the wife and kids to live in an 8’square tin can all week, if it saved 20% of you living cost at home?
If I want a steak dinner one night, followed by a drink and go over my night out money so what, I would never go hungry, or not be clean to live on a pittance whilst away from home, because my night out money was part of my earnings.
