I had a young chap of small statue did a bit for me and he reckoned he would sleep on the shelf of our old KM Bedford! Not that it did many nights out but I would have thought it would have been easier on the seats. 
Was there not something brought in by the Ministry about bunks having to be 15" away from the steering wheel? I seem to recall hearing about them going to lorry parks in the middle of the night with a tape measure and chucking drivers out and telling them to start there break from then! 
BigG-Unit
I think that was the rule that there had to be a set distance from steering wheel to bunk â or was it an urban myth amongst drivers ?
I also recall that at one time you couldnât have full curtains around your cab in Germany, I was told that this was so a check could be made to see if the driver was in a proper bunk â another urban myth amongst drivers ?
I was woken one night at Aachen by the police to check if I had a cab heater (this was in the days before they were fitted as normal) as they hadnât heard it running !!
On the subject of âHatcherâ roof cabins â I remember seeing a driver exit through the roof of his (sunroof ?) to gain access to the top of the box, from this I assume that was a safety feature. All the same it must be like being buried alive up there !! 
l once took 2 brand new Mini Metros down to Rome for a Motor Show from B.L. Longbridge in about 1982/83, in a day cab 16 ton Leyland Clydesdale, that was fun! And l used to do at least 3 sometimes 5 nights out a week for Minty Furniture, Oxford with a day cab Dodge Commando, set off with anything from 10 to 15 drops, 1st drop Leamington Spa, last drop Aberdeen, (at least she had a bench seat, total luxury!) Still, it made me appreciate the Globetrotters/ Toplines etc in the years that followed.
Having spent many happy years sleeping across the front seats of my Ford D1000 and scraping the ice off the windows inside in the morning, the time for a change arrived.
H+L Garages Immingham supplied Merc 2419 and converted the day cab to a double sleeper, complete with night heater and timer.
This was at the cutting edge of technology for me then!
I await criticism over the sheeting, my only excuse was the photographer arrived early, even before I had a chance to rope it!
Les zizis des routiers sont sympas
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Many many moons ago, in fact pre-HGV I worked for a firm that had 10 ton gross Bedford TKâs. We had the odd night out and stayed at many of the old cafeâs on the A5 like âBobsâ at Stretton On Dunsmore. Anyway, one of the lads never seemed to get a bed in time and ended up sleeping in the lorry. Now anyone who knows the TK intimately knows of the ledge behind the seats, theoretically, if you were under 5â 5" you could manage to lay on it.
Now this driver booked a weeks holiday and had asked the guvnor to âconvertâ his TK to a sleeper by adding box extentions to each end of the cab so he could stretch out. The boss agreed and his motor was duly installed in the workshop. Intrigued, a couple of us poked out noses in for a look midweek to see this wonderful conversion, with the thought of asking the boss to convert our lorrys too.
There was âsoapyâsâ lorry up on jacks having various bushes and balljoints replaced for the MOT. One of the side windows was missing, these windows being at the end of the ledge, and in its place was a sheet of 8 guage sheet metal with two oval cutouts. Attached to these cutouts was a pair of wellington boots, they were pop rivetted by the top of each boot to this steel plate. The idea was that âsoapyâ could lay on his back on the ledge with his feet inside the boots.The boss had it done it as a joke, and the look on 'soapyâs face the following monday was a look I shall never forget 
Twoninety88:
Many many moons ago, in fact pre-HGV I worked for a firm that had 10 ton gross Bedford TKâs. We had the odd night out and stayed at many of the old cafeâs on the A5 like âBobsâ at Stretton On Dunsmore. Anyway, one of the lads never seemed to get a bed in time and ended up sleeping in the lorry. Now anyone who knows the TK intimately knows of the ledge behind the seats, theoretically, if you were under 5â 5" you could manage to lay on it.Now this driver booked a weeks holiday and had asked the guvnor to âconvertâ his TK to a sleeper by adding box extentions to each end of the cab so he could stretch out. The boss agreed and his motor was duly installed in the workshop. Intrigued, a couple of us poked out noses in for a look midweek to see this wonderful conversion, with the thought of asking the boss to convert our lorrys too.
There was âsoapyâsâ lorry up on jacks having various bushes and balljoints replaced for the MOT. One of the side windows was missing, these windows being at the end of the ledge, and in its place was a sheet of 8 guage sheet metal with two oval cutouts. Attached to these cutouts was a pair of wellington boots, they were pop rivetted by the top of each boot to this steel plate. The idea was that âsoapyâ could lay on his back on the ledge with his feet inside the boots.The boss had it done it as a joke, and the look on 'soapyâs face the following monday was a look I shall never forget
Correct me if ime wrong (i probably am) 
but ime sure there were Bedford Tk/Tm sleeper conversions.
Looked like a shoe box was added to the window either side of the parcel shelf - remember Pickfords having them.
I used to spend 5 nights out across the bonnet of a Mandator & developed a âmodâ. I had a navy surplus hammock. I would open both the doors, throw the rope over the cab & tie it with a bow then slam the doors shut with the (much thinner) draw strings trapped in the doors. I got a lot of ribbing but a better nightâs sleep! De luxe was a warm summer night & a tautline trailerâŚ
I recall as a kid back in the 70âs that the day cab Seddon Atkinsonâs had a nifty cabbie bunk.
I started with a bedford tl,slept across parcel shelf when i was 18 ,the got a roadrunner and slept across the seats[had to remove passsenger armrest] before having a hatcher pod fitted,there were 2 sorts,the higher version meant you could sit up in bed,but i had the other one which was about 9inches lower.They were ok though had a 12v point for telly,a light ,smoke alarm,and the o/s window was designed to kick out in case of fire.They were warm too,but i had a nightheater fitted behind the drivers seat so i had to leave the hatch open to let the heat in,and it kept flattening the battery so i always had to park on a hill.Fitted another battery in parralel and solved the problem.Graduated to an Atki 401 and thought i was the king!
Someone somewhere must have pictures of my mates DAF, it was an ex Charlie Alexander 6x2 3300 day cab, he bought it at auction, came home and built a wooden crate behind the cab for his food and clothes. later that afternoon he picked up a trailer and went to Istanbul, not once but twice. when he got back after earning some money he bought a sleeper cab, cut it in half and welded it to the day cab. 
We had a man 7.5 tonner with a top pod fitted on our firm and one of the fitters got lucky in the pub by the yard one saturday afternoon. He brought her back and decided to do the deed in the pod. She was a bit wide in the backside area and got wedged in the hatch.
MAN 7.5 tonner? Like this one perhaps?
It was a bugger for the bloke sleeping across the seats when we were double manned and the bloke in the pod had to jump down in the middle of the night for a â â â â !! 
Rob Campbell:
Big Leggy:
If there are any old-time MAT drivers on this thread they will have a tale to tell â I can remember MAT drivers in Italy for 2 or 3 weeks at a time with Scanias day cabs fitted with pull down beds â I believe they were known as âcouchette cabsâ !!
I think these were illegal at that time in Germany if they were used as a sleeper â ok if you put up in hotel though !!I seem to recall Martintrux having loads of Day cab Scanias all regularly going over the water .Was a sleeper cab Scania that much more expensive in those days â â ? .
The longer wheelbase usually necessary to accommodate the sleeper extension would often put the whole outfit over the 15m overall length limit of the time - some Ministry men used to enforce it surprisingly strictly. Come to that, not all of the day cab motors could manage it, especially if it wasnât a matched outfit where the operator had full control over the position of both turntable and kingpin.
On that note most artics are over length now & all were over width until very recently
rondavies:
MAN 7.5 tonner? Like this one perhaps?
It was a bugger for the bloke sleeping across the seats when we were double manned and the bloke in the pod had to jump down in the middle of the night for a â â â â !!
It was the model after that one but the same set up with the pod.
The Pod has to be the worst idea yet,
A hole in the roof, climb in and refit the mattress over the hatch, to get out, same in reverse. Imagine the choice in a rush, half asleep, through the base or climb out through the escape window to the floor - Donât think so !!!
Not suprisingly, donât think many have slept in them
Dont see many pods now but they seemed quite popular back in the 80s. Anyone drive or remember the volvo eurotrotter
tribsa:
On that note most artics are over length now & all were over width until very recently
In those days, every Ministry man seemed to have a tape measure - well, they did in Lancashire, anyway!
kr79:
Dont see many pods now but they seemed quite popular back in the 80s. Anyone drive or remember the volvo eurotrotter
Hereâs a Eurotrotter, although this is shorter than a standard one as these were special build by Volvo for the âPhilips Conceptâ
And as later modified with an Estepe pod:
