jessicas dad:
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.
It’s the best time of the day to get battered out of your skull. I like hanging out an upstairs window, swigging on a bottle of vodka and shouting at the kids making their way to school with their miserable morning faces, you just can’t beat it. Nights are great.
cliffton 27:
if you do go on nights blackout cutains are a must
And most important unplug the fone!.. was on nights for 6 mths in 2010 and the most annoying thing was the goddam fone starts ringing…you get up to answer and find its EDF asking u to switch providers back!!! 
Been on nights for six years now mainly sleeping in cab as well but love it, yes as others have stated most nights after finishing I enjoy a couple of tinnies, but with the exception of realy hot weather sleep like a log, with phones on silent.
Money is always better than days, and less stress goes with less traffic.
Night trunk isn’t what it used to be, I remember getting 100 quid on top of my wages as weekly shift premium in the 80’s on Fed Ex but things have changed now and you get a bit extra on the basic.
Pat Hasler:
Night trunk isn’t what it used to be, I remember getting 100 quid on top of my wages as weekly shift premium in the 80’s on Fed Ex but things have changed now and you get a bit extra on the basic.
Our basic is £50 a week more than the day drivers, plus it’s for 40 hours while theirs is for 48. We also get £70 a week shift allowance they don’t get.
Wish I had gone on nights years ago instead of just the middle of last year. I sleep more now, and better, than I have done for 30 odd years. I usually get home between half three and five o’clock and go to bed a couple of hours later. Usually sleep until between 1 and 2 in the afternoon and that gives me plenty of time until I leave for work at about 1845 to do anything that needs doing. I stick to that pattern at weekends as well so my body is well used to it by now. I put house and mobile phones on silent, or off when I go to bed and as I live in an apartment block with an entry phone system I can silence that as well so don’t get disturbed at all.
Don’t think I could work days anymore! Too much traffic in this country! 
Nice and steady driving at night! 
Crap trying to sleep in the hot summer though! 
I love my nightshift as well, and heres why
no muppet on the phone from the office every 10 minutes
less traffic
you get to see allsorts of wildlife (usually as its bouncing off the front of the wagon)
the moneys better 
i do 48hours work and get paid for 55 
spend more time asleep than working while waiting to get called out
and you get to see some decent totty ahen driving through city centres especially on a friday or saturday night
I work mainly nights on class 2 and i love it no traffic to stress you out and i have no problems with sleeping in the day you see a bit of wildlife at night and its not always the furry kind… especially if you picking up or dropping off in city centres.money is better on the whole but the more you earn the more the tax man takes… apart from that its great… 
Ive worked nights for the last 16 years so i reckon im more than qaulified to comment on its possitives and negatives. 
Ive done alot of outside work in all weathers during nights, not just driving a truck.
For the first few years i did’nt mind it so much but these days, the older i get, the more it seems to effect me and i find it harder to do the nights. I have trouble sleeping at the best of times letalone during the day. When im on nights, il go to bed anywhere between 4.30 and 7 in the morning and im awake again at 9 ish 
Il try and sleep some more but will generaly get out about dinner time feeling like utter crap! By the end of the week im really feeling like crap through general lack of sleep and am pretty bloody savage! (ask her indoors) Now days, i hate nights! If i had the choice, i’d never do them again, it ■■■■■ you up!! And its not good for your health. Saying that, fair play to anyone that likes them, there sure is alot less hassle on the roads for a start.
A very fair comment.
Nights are good in general. When running boxes to FXTO though the bloody A14 seems to be shut somewhere more often than not!!! A few narrow roads near the A14!!! 
No traffic to speak of, decent money so pretty good really. Lot of places to stop busy with trampers though. Not sure there is a great deal going for Class 2 though, always done class 1 on nights.
It’s not a bad crack though!!
I’ve done a few nights on agency over the past few weeks driving a 3.5tonne van.
If you get stuck with the same run it could get a bit boring, especially on dark quiet motorways. Good music is a must I’d say, just to keep you entertained and awake.
When I started the nights a few guys on here offered advice on sleep patterns etc. Some good tips, just find what works best for you and try to stick to it.
Back in days next week, I’ve got a child to think of
It’s alright if you are only doing four nights a week. Otherwise you finish on friday morning you need some sleep so you get up mid afternoon and then go to bed at night a and try to sleep, you get a clear day on saturday and then on sunday you can’t have a drink and you have to work in a kip as you have to go to work on sunday night so you only really get one clear day off. I hated it.
I did nights for about 9 years & once I got used to it I loved it. Quite a few firms do nights with rigids so if you haven’t a class 1 you’ll be restricted but the jobs are out there & may even be near you. The down side of night trunking with a rigid is you have to tip & reload unless you’re on drop bodies. A lot of rigid night work is done by Dairies & Bakeries so there are noghit jobs around on rigids. You’ll have to do your home work.
Sleep wise, it took me several months to get my body clock to accept nights & then I was fine. I’d black out the curtains in summer months to make sure of good sleep & you have the every day noises to put up with depending where you live. I had to put up with grass cutting etc as there was a large open pace near me which also attracted a lot of kids plalying etc. All things you need to consider.
I’m not lecturing anyone here but, if you’re on nights you have to respect your body’s need for proper sleep. We had one or two who thought they were superman & could do with next to no sleep & it simply doesn’t work. I was on Monday night to friday night finishing saturday mornings & if I was on a late trunk I’d stay up every saturday if I could. I sometimes felt terrible & would go to bed because I hated the feeling of being so tired. It’s something you have to accept. I’d go back to nights without a second thought if what I’m doing now went wrong, it wouldn’t bother me at all.
BB
In my opinion, nights are for sleeping - days are for working.
I’ve done nights for a fair while including a 7 year stretch of running out to Venlo out one night back the next, now I’m usually moving cow juice.
Weather. Yes you can get the worse of it but you also get the room to cope. In snow and ice all you need is a traffic free road in front of you, not some pratt inching past and then slowing down on your front bumper. Worst thing to cope with is fog.
Traffic or lack of it. Imagine 4 lanes of the M25 all to yourself or coming around the north circular on cruise control. You have to be aware of drunks and it’s best to keep your doors locked but no one really bothers you. Having said that VOSA do run a few night shifts on the M40 but they are usually looking for our European cousins.
Traffic office. Usually run by one person, you don’t bother them they won’t bother you.
View from the cab: At this time of year not a lot to see but as the nights get shorter it’s great. The world really is your lobster. I have actually pulled in and stopped to savour some sun sets and dawns.
Social life: forget it. On the plus side you can usually be around for day time appointments, it’s just a case of adjusting your sleep time. But whatever, you are usually home and awake for part of the day unlike dayshifts where you’re out the door before the kids get up and they’re fast asleep when you finish.
Sleep. There’s owls and larks and for nights you need to be an owl, I can start any time of day or night so long as it’s not between 01:00 and 07:00 I just can’t wake up early morning. You sleep when you’re tired but it does help if you can get by on 5 hours. Also any decent night shift should allow an extra half hour or so for a bit of eyelid inspection on the way back. At weekends or days off you need to keep somewhere near you sleep pattern, going to bed late ish and laying in in the morning (that’s my excuse anyway)
Basically you’re either suited for it or you’re not. For me it’s the next best thing to cruising around Europe.
Ride the night horse
Ex Haulier:
It’s alright if you are only doing four nights a week. Otherwise you finish on friday morning you need some sleep so you get up mid afternoon and then go to bed at night a and try to sleep, you get a clear day on saturday and then on sunday you can’t have a drink and you have to work in a kip as you have to go to work on sunday night so you only really get one clear day off. I hated it.
For the last 7 or so months I have been doing 5 nights a week, finish by about 0400 Saturday morning and back in at 1915 Monday and that means I can drink Saturday and Sunday and into Monday if I wish. No difference to someone who does Monday to Friday and starts earlyish on the Monday morning as they can usually drink Friday and Saturday night and a maybe Sunday lunchtime
Been on the 18:00 - 22:00 band since last February, the only problem is sleeping on my rest days EG:going to bed in the evening and still being wide awake in the early hours(see time of posting) and a lot of our runs are through some nice countryside which I don’t get to see. The road closures and the F.L.A’s are the only thing’s that annoy apart from that much more relaxing than the daytime.
zzarbean:
I’ve done nights for a fair while including a 7 year stretch of running out to Venlo out one night back the next, now I’m usually moving cow juice.Weather. Yes you can get the worse of it but you also get the room to cope. In snow and ice all you need is a traffic free road in front of you, not some pratt inching past and then slowing down on your front bumper. Worst thing to cope with is fog.
Traffic or lack of it. Imagine 4 lanes of the M25 all to yourself or coming around the north circular on cruise control. You have to be aware of drunks and it’s best to keep your doors locked but no one really bothers you. Having said that VOSA do run a few night shifts on the M40 but they are usually looking for our European cousins.
Traffic office. Usually run by one person, you don’t bother them they won’t bother you.
View from the cab: At this time of year not a lot to see but as the nights get shorter it’s great. The world really is your lobster. I have actually pulled in and stopped to savour some sun sets and dawns.
Social life: forget it. On the plus side you can usually be around for day time appointments, it’s just a case of adjusting your sleep time. But whatever, you are usually home and awake for part of the day unlike dayshifts where you’re out the door before the kids get up and they’re fast asleep when you finish.
Sleep. There’s owls and larks and for nights you need to be an owl, I can start any time of day or night so long as it’s not between 01:00 and 07:00 I just can’t wake up early morning. You sleep when you’re tired but it does help if you can get by on 5 hours. Also any decent night shift should allow an extra half hour or so for a bit of eyelid inspection on the way back. At weekends or days off you need to keep somewhere near you sleep pattern, going to bed late ish and laying in in the morning (that’s my excuse anyway)
Basically you’re either suited for it or you’re not. For me it’s the next best thing to cruising around Europe.
Ride the night horse
RTNH
Above is spot on imo. It amazed me when I started nights how many Vans/Small Trucks were around in the early hours. Milk is a big one, paper is another.
dew:
Above is spot on imo. It amazed me when I started nights how many Vans/Small Trucks were around in the early hours. Milk is a big one, paper is another.
I saw 2010 in at Davidstowe in Cornwall, coming back up the A30/M5 I saw no other trucks apart from a couple of milk tanks until about 3.00am when a few Sainsbugs started to appear.
The absolute dead time is between 200 and 4.00. main users Milk Tanks, Pallet Jocks (keep yer elbows in) Supermarket Trolleys, Post Office, Veggie vans around London (3.5 tonners very low on the backend) and the occasional European cousin who can’t sleep