Have noticed alot of driving jobs now seem to have strange shift pattens.
Does anybody work a 48 hour week on a 4 on 4 off shift? and if so how do they find it?
How does it affect family life with having to work alot of weekends.
Would be interesting to find out.
Cheers
Never heard of 4 on 4 off but sounds very nice, as for 48hrs i wish more like 60 for me and yes it dose affect family life my mrs always moaning says we leave two separate lives. You get used to the money tho, mayb il end up single again. Hope not tho…
Haven´t done it driving, but did it working for STC submarine cables in Southampton docks many years ago, worked 4 days, 4 days off then 4 nights etc. all 12 hour shifts. It was brilliant, 4 days holiday gets you 12 days off and you get a ´free` long weekend every week 
. Of course I was single then so can´t really help with the family thing, the only thing about that would be that you wouldn´t be able to spend every weekend with them.
I would jump at the chance of those shifts again.
There are an awful lot of single truck drivers around. most as a result of divorce thanks to the work pattens, and being away from home so much. I am on my second marraige, having missed my children growing up. not going to make the same mistakes this time, no more than one maybe two nights out a week, try to keep to a day shift, try to get at least every other weekend off.
A 4 on 4 off shift would be great, wouldn’t mind spending some time away if I know I will have 4 days home. and I think it is easier on your family if they know in advance that you will have this 4 day break.
All this “any 5 from seven” or " rotating shift patterns through 24 hours" is not family friendly. When transport planners and managers start to understand that you can get much more from people who are happy in thier work, who have a happy family or social life life, only then will things improve. how many other jobs can you go to work in the morning, with no idea what time you will be home? How do you think your wife feels when you go out that door, and she can’t plan her life or the kids life to include you?
I think most of the docks run a similar shift pattern (Chatham and Purfleet spring to mind). With everything being 24/7 these days you have to adapt to supply and demand to stay ahead, probrably why companies now have alot of weekend work, what happened to Sunday being a day of rest?
I am constantly “on call”. The phone could ring at any time, and I am expected to be away instantly. It’s rare that they do call and it plays havoc with social life. You can’t go too far away from the depot just in case. All the grief for ■■■■ money. Needs must I suppose. 
Ive done 4on 4off for Fine Lady Bakeries in Banbury and it is a CRAP shift pattern,you work 7 weekends out of 9 (either a sat,or sun,or both 
) and all bank holidays if its your plannned shift.At Faccenda weve got Sun -Thurs or Mon-Fri on livehaul or Tues-sat or Sun-Thurs on distribution and now were recruiting drivers for Thurs-Mon shift 
all to keep the wheels rolling 24/7/364
Yep I work 4 on 4 off and have done so for the last 3 years.
Its a salaried job so I don’t have to “chase the hours”. Usually get the 3 nights out with it so wage is OK.
As for working weekends its not a problem. In fact I enjoy it as there’s much less traffic and the MSA’s are usually fairly empty.
Give you an example of my work on this 4 days.
Friday Run from Immingham to Prestwick for 11am. Park up Annadale Water
Saturday Reload Preston. Run back to Immingham
Sunday (today) Swindon for 10am. Am now parked up in our Bristol Depot for a 5am tip in morning.
Monday Reloading Lucozade at Coleford at 9 in morning which I’ll run back to Immingham and that’s me done till Next Saturday.
Works for me and I certainly wouldn’t want to go back to 5/6 days hourly paid.
Very nice! I wud nae mind your job. I wud class that as family friendly loasa time off…
4 on 4 off may suit many but I can see a problem if the kids are of school age or the partner works mon to Fri and the driver has to work many weekends
Re the partner bit… many might like to have the days off when they ain’t there - a full day of peace !
Yes personal situations are a big factor.
For me the kids have all left and the wife is retired.
Big advantage is you can have a near normal life. Doctors and dentists appointments etc can all be made easily and of course if I take 4 days holiday that gives me a total of 12 days off.
We do it for years with some of the drivers on the Cadbury contract, 4 day, 4 off, 4 night
All 12 hours shifts on a fixed rate per shift not per hour, if the job is done in less than 12, still get 12 paid.
All the guys on there don’t want to change because they have more social life than when you work 5-6 days on and than 24-45 hours of
Are able to take the kids to school, be able to visit parents evenings at school and do things what you normal can’t do as a driver.
(ever tried to finish in time to go to the bank on Saturday morning?)
Yes you work more weekends, or do you ■■?, I don’t know if everybody finish here on Friday 17:00hrs, I guess not, and don’t start on Sunday night or early monday morning, how much is than left of your weekend?
Every disadvantage has an advantage, there are driver who rather work in the night, I wouldn’t like it for money or love!
Loved the 4on 4off shift,didn’t care what the company through my way,couldn’t care less about the winter weather or the road conditions (living in Canada) because I knew that after 4 of the worst days that could be sent my way I would have 4 days at home .Sure leaving on a Friday can be bad,but it’s only 4 days.Favorite shift for me was out on a Sunday then back home on Weds night,then an extended weekend knowing that it was followed by a Mon-Thurs shift back on the next Tues.Best rotation ever.
ROG:
4 on 4 off may suit many but I can see a problem if the kids are of school age or the partner works mon to Fri and the driver has to work many weekends
As far as I can see it you just seem to find a problem with work in general regardless of the shift pattern. 
One of the drawbacks with those shifts is it’s a rather shrewd way to get you working weekends at flat rate…
44 Tonne Ton:
One of the drawbacks with those shifts is it’s a rather shrewd way to get you working weekends at flat rate…
Our 4 on 4 off drivers are paid ■■?1.50 an hour more than the mon-fri drivers,and get 12 hours paid insread of the usual 10
Tonyb
I cannot not work weekends its the only time I see my daughter who lives with my ex, I would happily work away all week and run back in on a Saturday if I had to but would try to park up on a Friday as early as I could so I could get back as early as possible on a Saturday morning. I have two children with my girlfriend and 2 step sons and in my last job I got home every night but was lucky to see them for an hour before they went to bed then would fall asleep on the sofa.
I have been out of work for a while now and I love taking the kids to school and picking them up my youngest son is not at school yet so it is great playing with him all day and spending all day with my misses is great (when we are getting on). When I manage to find a new job it will take a bit of getting used to not seeing the family as much but the money has got to be earnt plus hopefully the Mrs will be starting training in Sept to become a teaching assistant so would get bored out of my brains at home on my own and not long passed my class c so cant wait to get working driving them (well hopefully).
tonyb70:
44 Tonne Ton:
One of the drawbacks with those shifts is it’s a rather shrewd way to get you working weekends at flat rate…Our 4 on 4 off drivers are paid ■■?1.50 an hour more than the mon-fri drivers,and get 12 hours paid insread of the usual 10
Tonyb
I used to get time and a half after 8 and on Sat then double time Sunday. Your drivers “appear” to be getting something but it’s hard to tell on the information you’ve given. Do the 4 on 4 off work 4 x 12 and the Mon-Fri crew 5 x 10?