Evening all. I am currently a tipper driver and to be frank, I cannot stand it. Getting stuck, up to me diffs in crap, dealing with brain dead idiots its prob worse job I’ve ever had!!!
Anyways i have been thinking of changing jobs and attempting to get away from tippers and get on nights somewhere else like trunking etc. Now i have done night shifts on the odd occasion in other jobs but only 2 shifts driving.
So am just after some input / comments / opinions if people don’t mind? For example is it much quieter? Wages? What do people do sleep wise? Especially sleep at weekends? What sort of work i might find? etc etc.
Hope im not being a pain.
many thanks in advance really appreciate any thoughts.
I can tell you what it’s like on a night I’ve done it for 10 years.
It’s a lot quieter as you would imagine. The main type of work is class 1 trunking work normally from A to B and back again. I do see a few class 2 trucks about and a lot of 7.5 tonne ones, mainly Royal Mail.
Sleep wise I never had a problem sleeping during the day. Where I live is very quiet. When I finish my last shift I go home and don’t go to bed until the night, then on my first shift I normally spend half a day in bed, getting up just before I start.
Wages tend to be higher on a night but sometimes you can’t get the hours in especially if you get stuck on a shorter run.
Agree with Rew, sleeping during the day could be the biggest hurdle. Can be difficult during holidays with kids playing out and in the ‘heat’ during the summer. For some people their internal clock cannot cope with it.
Plus, you will have the worst of the British weather to contend with, freezing fog, heavy rain & spray, black ice, headlight glare, morning sun, drunk drivers, roadworks & diversions, deer, owls & bats.
The best fun I have ever had since I moved onto nights!
i did nights for 6 months the sleeping was no problem once i got myself into a routine like others have said its a lot quieter the biggest issue is roads being closed due to rd works
Also be mindful that to have a day off for any reason will usually involve having two nights off, the one before & the one after the day in question. (bye & large)
It’s second nature to me, luckily I live in a quiet area so sleeping isn’t much of an issue. Only things you have to watch for really in my area are Wildlife, and those funny little cars with Yellow & Blue spots on.
Wildlife - to date I’ve had 3 deer, 2 foxs, 2 cats, 1 badger and infinity Rabbits. The badger was the worst, powdered the front spring on a Transit.
A lot depends on wether the trunks run at regular times.
for example the last night trunking I did entailed start times of anything between 15.00 and 22.00
There would be a mixture of these shifts in every week, rest times varied between 9 hours and 15 hours
the length of the working day varied between 7.5 hours and 15 hours.
wages were based on 40 hours + 33% plus overtime at 1 1/2 and double for Sundays.
Sleeping was a real problem, especially through the summer…
Social life was non existent, just too tired to go out at the weekend.
Got to admit that in spite of all the above I enjoyed most of it, even when the weather was crap you were dealing with “professional” drivers most of the time so could drive fairly relaxed.
During the short nights in summer the job was a doddle, not dark till 11.00 and light again at 3.30, doing a Scotch then was very nice.
Not sure that I would enjoy the same run every night though.
At the end of the day, you won’t know till you try it, but be prepared to give it a fair trial, it does take a while for the body clock to adjust.
Oh, and finally, research has shown that night workers live up to 5 years less than day workers !!!
I did it for about 3 months, no social life, never saw my girlfriend, pretty depressing for me personally as I’ve always been an early riser. You just have to try it to see if it suits, a lot of drivers love it.
i done it for a year never no probs with sleep as you that tired when u finish but sometimes used to have a can or two of been when i got home to chill out
social life was nt great though for the first six months i worked every weekend but u get used to it and def prefer to work night s less stress traffic etc
The other big advantage of night driving is that the transport office tends to leave you alone. Planning’s been done during the day, most management are tucked up in their beds so you’re left to just get on with the job.
Disadvantages as above - it’s not great for your social life, though if you do Sunday to Thursday as I did then it’s not so bad. Generally less traffic but often unexpected roadworks though even those don’t hold you up as much as they can do during the day.
The sleep pattern is the biggy - hence you’ll see a lot of trucks at night wandering between the lanes - I’m one of those that can get away with 4-5 hours sleep, but if you’re an 8-hour plus person then you may find it difficult.
nedflanders:
i done it for a year never no probs with sleep as you that tired when u finish but sometimes used to have a can or two of been when i got home to chill out
my mrs used to moan that here and the kids were tucking into weetabix i was sat there on the carlsberg, she was not impressed.
nedflanders:
i done it for a year never no probs with sleep as you that tired when u finish but sometimes used to have a can or two of been when i got home to chill out
my mrs used to moan that here and the kids were tucking into weetabix i was sat there on the carlsberg, she was not impressed.
my mate works nights and one day his lad about 5 yr old was doing what you eat for breakfast when it came to him he said me and mummy have toast and daddy has beer the same day he went to collect him and got the funniest looks of his teacher
Seems everyone enjoyed doing nights but can be a drain. Well my job now is a MASSIVE drain haha. Think ill see ways about and if can find something give it a bash.
I never think of it now because it all seems natural 
