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An endemic problem seems to be that some (possibly too many) employers interpret the 13/15hr regs as an obligation on the drivers part to fulfill. Never forget that these are NOT compulsory, but MAXIMUM permitted by law. Ask yourself how many of these dicks lead by example? Most are at home chilling out (a) before you start (b) before you finish, and care not a jot for your well-being or work/life balance. The word NO can be a very effective remedy for extreme fatigue, and if your gaffer interprets this as having a bad attitude towards your job as opposed to a responsible attitude towards safe working, perhaps its time to look to pastures new. Bottom line in reality - sleep is the only thing to truly alleviate tiredness. If you allow them to overwork you, it will continue in perpetuity.
Well said and my sentiments exactly, which is why I left my last job to go on agency
I found napping worked when I was out and about driving. Wind down window and turn heat off until you can pull over. Avoid longer than 30 mins actual sleep to avoid deep wave sleep and the sleep inertia you get after (drowsiness and feeling groggy). I used to find a coffee immediately before starting a nap useful as seemed to kick in straight after I woke up! Drink loads of water. Dehydration makes you tired.
I now have to take to the bunk for 1-2 hours at a time during long long trips and I’ve woken up feeling like death but spend 20 mins with a cup of old joe and walking about a bit shakes it off a little before going back to the seat.
How do you fight with the tiredness during your shift? Let’s say you could not sleep when you had your 45 minutes break. Does plenty of caffeine solve the problem?
You are obviously tired so sleep for an hour ■■■■■■■■ to transport, or carry on and kill yourself or some poor family in a car. sounds bad but it happens, its up to you.
Hi sweeper1gg,
Do not get worried about myself being tired behind the wheel. I do not let myself to go sleeping when driving a lorry and I am concentrated at what I do at all times. I am worried about s h i t t y car drivers and some stupid cyclists around me.
On the other hand, I’ve been drinking Lucozade for yonks, and as long as I’m rested each day, I’ll be able to get to around 6am without feeling sleepy.
It’s 6am-10am that’s the killer for me, if I get stuck in the morning traffic on the home leg…
One of the reasons I hate pallet work with a passion.
You should do everything possible to avoid tiredness though, as it can be argued it’s as bad as being drunk…
NEVER burn the candle at both ends by staying up all day before setting off to do a night shift.
Tiredness can kill! That’s a fact, I’ve seen it on Mway signs & matrix boards so its got to be true. The info on here is spot on regarding taking a nap. I woke up tired a couple of weeks ago so I had another hour as recommended, got woken up by a call from work saying don’t bother coming back, result, I now get plenty rest & I’m not tired anymore.
alix776:
I’m one nights and usually use isotonic Lucozade or supermarket version also snacking helps
Swilling loads of sugary energy drinks and snacking a lot is one sure fire way for a night worker to pile on weight.
I used to have a good filling meal before heading out to work, a butty half way through the shift (sometimes) then a good breakfast when I got home. Never touched energy drinks, just drank tea & carried a bottle of water. I only did 9 hour shifts though which helped… wouldn’t work nights if I was ever expected to do more than 10 as it simply doesn’t allow you to get enough sleep if your not getting to bed till late morning/noon.
On nights, a 15/20min nap, 5 min walk around works for me, I always have the driver window open a bit as well unless its baltic. In a crunch a couple of proplus will see me through the last 2hrs of a shift.
I’ve really started to cut back on the sugary/energy drinks and coffee recently and I’ve noticed I’m a lot less tired towards the end of a shift even if I’ve been a bit short of sleep, my outlook is more as well.
My best start times are between 10am and 3pm, I really struggle 3-7am.
bobdebouwer:
Best thing I found for working night shift and feeling tired.
If I do feel tired, a couple of pro plus but the do take a short while to kick in.
Admittedly I only work two night shifts a week so it’s difficult to get any sort of sleep pattern.
However I always have 6 or even 8 hours sleep before I start a shift and take a couple of Pro Plus with my meal before clocking in and never have any problems staying awake.
I tried Red Bull, but it tastes like ■■■■ and is full of sugar, which is no good if you are diabetic like I am.
A condition many drivers suffer with but will not admit to it, is OSA, (Obstructive Sleep Apnea), the most usual cause being over weight.
Decent music on the radio, window open, stop at MSA or a layby for 5 minutes and have a quick walk about. Used to try all things like Redbull (diet sugarfree one) but when they wear off you feel even worse. Eventually found they made no difference.
Once you get into a sleep routine for nights it’ll be better. I can now get home at 8-9am and get to sleep no problem, I prefer to get home and have 20-30 minutes wind down then go to bed rather than some who will go to bed later after a few hours so they’re waking up to go to work. The biggest mistake people made as I found out myself to try and have a normal day sleep pattern on a weekend. Don’t if you’re doing nights long term - I eventually ended up at a point where I would get no sleep one day a week and it drove me nuts after a year of it. Instead maybe go to bed at 3-4am and get up around 10am.
Conor:
The biggest mistake people made as I found out myself to try and have a normal day sleep pattern on a weekend. Don’t if you’re doing nights long term - I eventually ended up at a point where I would get no sleep one day a week and it drove me nuts after a year of it. Instead maybe go to bed at 3-4am and get up around 10am.
The weekends are what broke me so far as night working goes.
During the week I liked it (so long as I wasn’t starting earlier than 8pm); no alarm clock, rise about 5pm, have some tea, bit of time with the Mrs then off to work for an easy night of straightforward work on quiet roads. However, come the weekend I was always constantly knackered just trying to have a decent life. Weekend should be the time of week to catch up on rest, not lose it!
About 6 years ago I went to the docs because I was tired all the time,firstly he said we have to do tests to make sure you don’t have narcolepsy which is a form on epilepsy which basically means you can drop off to sleep without any notice.
So,he said what do you do for a living…HGV driver I replied,straight away he says you mustn’t drive a HGV again til this test has been done.
Off I went to wait to hear from the hospital as he had referred me to a sleep specialist (didn’t even know there was such a thing!),so I waited,and waited for this test it was 3 months before I got a letter through for my appointment that was a further 2 months down the line so from being referred by my doc u waited 6 months to see someone,remembering in this time I wasn’t allowed to drive Hgvs and only cars for short journeys on the docs instructions.
Luckily for me all the tests came back negative and it was put down to my working lifestyle of mixed start times which are generally anywhere from 3am to 7am and not having enough sleep as most people in this industry wil know getting 8hrs a night if you have to be up at 2-3am is nigh on impossible especially in the summer months when it’s light til 9pm and also if you have kids or kids playing outside making a noise ect ect.
One thing that has helped massively is getting good exercise,drinking plenty of fluids because when your body is dehydrated is will begin to shut down and you will become tired/lafargic(sp).
But I’d advise anyone to explore all other avenues before going to the docs unless you can afford to not driver for potentially 6-12 months as they will first rule out the worst case scenarios like narcolepsy or sleep apnea and the waiting times for these tests are very long,luckily for me the company I worked for were very good about it and I didn’t lose any money because they found me something else to do that didn’t involve driving.
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