About 20 years ago I did Cardiff to Blyth Northumberland and back twice, back to back in a shagged out ■■■■■■ van.
I don’t remember exactly how long it took but I was pretty shagged out afterwards too. I think each leg was about 5 and a half hours IIRC.
once turned up to a job 06.00 sunday morning to be greeted with the statement,‘job n knock sure gets the boys going’(in an Irish accent 
),when we were still there 23.00 'where’s yer … job n knock now!
I went from 22051982 to 14061982 with no sleep, 
tabbing, shooting and supping in the Falklands! 
quite noisy all that 7.62mm
Forgot to say, not a hardman either, just a paratrooper doing my job! only a kid as well!
I remember it well…cant remember the exact duty time from start to finish but it was 19 hours of driving and 1700km of driving. 2009 on a trip from Toronto to Calgary. I dont mind pushing it on a bit and we can legally drive 13 hours a day here but that was taking the pish and I’m not so silly any more. When I first arrived in Canada, my then employer would often make indirect threats to us foreign drivers on temporary work permits that we’d do as we’re told and get our deliveries done on time, or else we’d be sent packing from whence we came. As soon as I got my permanent residence I was out of there and the limit of my “running bent” now is the odd 30 mins or an hour here and there to get home or to a suitable and safe ■■■■■■■■■■■■ if I’m in an unsavoury part of the US etc.
In a lorry would be around 36hrs single manned and in a van maybe a bit longer as i can’t remember now how long it took, but we had to collect from 4 different places in the uk get the Tforms ect @ ashford truck stop then get le shuttle and drive to polski we left blighty around 9-10pm and got to the truckstop before the border on the E30 in the evening we decided not to wait with all the trucks and tried out luck, we got through to the border post,got the paper work (photocopies of everything) for the customs, then ended up being turned around back to germany,lol, but by this time it was time for us to enter polski, so we joined the que, and had to repeat getting photocopies and getting everything rubberstamped , by the time we got to the drop it was midday, then we had to wait again for the goods to clear customs, with nowhere to sleep , we eventually tipped and had a few hours ,then we drove back to blighty (had a few power naps whilst it was my co pilots turn to drive, must of been nearly 2 days without sleep
8 hours and 1 minute. I was fuming!! 
24 hrs when I was docking for a living. We had a ship from South Africa come in and when they lifted one of the hatches off there was a bit of smoke in the hold anyway it was full of wood pulp so we had to get it out as fast as possible with the fire brigade on stand by.
Still 16 hrs o/t in one day don’t come around too often. 
When I was over the water on the fridges almost everything was one hit, early season fruit always comes from the bottom of Italy, Spain, Portugal etc, so lots of big days then, but the most memorable one started out in Madrid, which I probably did in one hit too.
I ran empty to Toulon, loaded next to the Paul Ricard racetrack and went back to Madrid, tipped there and then went empty to Murcia, never stopped for anything but diesel, I had a raging toothache at the time and knew of a dentist in the Alicante area who would treat the expats down there, so I was on a mission, got there on Sunday, he was closed, still couldn’t sleep so I went on the ■■■■, that was about three days solid…
I now regularly do 850 mile days, legally too, the 13hr driving rule helps and so does being able to keep moving all the time, sometimes if I’m jogging on a bit I can stop for a brew and find I’m a little bit ahead of my log book, so I have to wait for it to catch me up 
It sounds like hard work, but when you can average these sort of speeds constantly, it’s a piece of ■■■■ really
On Recovery work I started a normal shift on Friday about 8am and yes my head did touch my pillow a couple of times I never got any sleep until around 10am Monday in Sheffield after dropping a car off. I had a hour or so then drove back to gloucs! I took that Monday night off! lol
42 hours with 2 hours kip in between. started to feel a bit sick. I pushed it too far that time.
newmercman:
I now regularly do 850 mile days, legally too, the 13hr driving rule helps and so does being able to keep moving all the time, sometimes if I’m jogging on a bit I can stop for a brew and find I’m a little bit ahead of my log book, so I have to wait for it to catch me upIt sounds like hard work, but when you can average these sort of speeds constantly, it’s a piece of ■■■■ really
Do those lorries hold the road well at that speed? What kinds of roads are you allowed to do those speeds on?
27 hours…
1 week. About 15 years ago, doing 2 jobs, 1 non driving in the day then a cheeky trunk at night. Hallucinating on pro plus, nearly crashed my car on the 42 after that week so called it a day.
Ah, being up for it, them were the days.
there are two biggies that spring to mind, i cant tell you the exact length of time for each one but they were long days.
the first was a sunday, me and a mate had planned to fit tipping gear to my truck at the time,erf ec11 olympic, there was some mods to make, like the batteries needed to moved which meant making a new tray, the tippng tank wasnt for this truck and needed the brackets modifying, and a few other things needed fettling, all sounds reasonable so far apart from i had taken ona scotch that had a reload on it to catch monday nights boat - which meant running up (to somewhere in glasgow if i recall correctly) that afternoon - or night as it turned out lol. everything was going swimmingly until the weather turned vile - i mean it really ■■■■■■■ down and we were working in an open yard, then partly due to frustration my mate drilled through the chassis straight into a load of air pipes - so now they needed fixing, on a sunday!! it was 8pm by the time i got to immingham to collect my trailer for the north.
the second was a similar scenario, only this time i’d been called upon to help my mate out with a paint job on a trailer, i subbed to post kogeko at the time and they had typically let me down last thing in th afternoon so i was able to go and give my mate a hand, of course at about 1-2pm the phone rang,rick from post, “chris, we have a trailer stuck in hull that must be in aberdeen at 7am tomorrow - can you do it?” i went onto explain what i was up to but said i would do the trailer, go home have a bath and run up through the night, tip the load and then have my hours off - “so if it has to reload plan around that!” i think i got up there at about 5am, the place opened at 7, so i was happily asleep by around 8
like i say, i dont know the exact hours involved but its not something you want to be doing on purpose!!
amusingly though, when i first set up i was 25, i hadnt had any experience at all really but worked for my uncle on a farm where some local owner drivers kept their trucks, one of them offered to be my transport manager, and , obviously hadnt read the rule book since he was given his qualification via grandfather rights, because he told me i could work as many hours as i liked as long as i took the right break at night!! so i did - i got a bit of a shock when vosa tugged me at kettering lol
Saaamon:
newmercman:
I now regularly do 850 mile days, legally too, the 13hr driving rule helps and so does being able to keep moving all the time, sometimes if I’m jogging on a bit I can stop for a brew and find I’m a little bit ahead of my log book, so I have to wait for it to catch me upIt sounds like hard work, but when you can average these sort of speeds constantly, it’s a piece of ■■■■ really
Do those lorries hold the road well at that speed? What kinds of roads are you allowed to do those speeds on?
I think you’ll find its called CB radio !
Saaamon:
Do those lorries hold the road well at that speed? What kinds of roads are you allowed to do those speeds on?
What ever the posten speed limit is then we can do it, there is no difference between cars and trucks. In a very few places they have a seperate speed limit for trucks but they are the exception. In my province in Canada for example the speed limit on the Trans Canada Highway (4 lane motorway) is 110 km/h and on main two lane roads its 100 km/h. In most US states the universal speed limit is 65 or 70mph on the interstates and 55mph on other roads although in western states its often 75mph on the intertstaes and 65mph on your single track roads and again thats for all vehicles. As for how they handle, they handle very well as they’re a longer wheel base with a hood so they’re not short and tall. I remember doing about 75mph down windy hill one day coming in to Manchester a Mercedes Actros Megaspace and it was wobbling all over the place so I felt like I had to slow her down to 55 again before it fell to bits and killed me, however I often do 90mph or more down a hill here without the slightest problem with handling (although should I suffer a steer tire blowout, it’d be a different story!)
36 hrs form LEPE in Spain to Humber fruit merchants Hull, absolutley Pie eyed and got told to unload it too, he got told to get foooked
Picked up low loader from yard around 10am Sunday morning and took it to a job in camberwell south London, just short of 2hours drive. Quick sandwich then start a 12 hour shift on a 138 excavator. Finished shift at 1am monday and loaded 2 138s to take to dartford. Dropped those then ran back to camberwell and loaded two dozers for the yard. Arrived back at yard around 6am and had an hour on the bunk. Unloaded dozers and reloaded a rubber duck to take an hour down the road to a paint shop. Back to the yard for a quick brew and do a second rubber duck. On way back to the yard around 1pm I get a call. “Do you fancy a couple of night shifts on the Gretna job?, if so you need to be there for 10 pm Tonight”. Ran back to the yard and headed home to Brighton to grab my gear. Had a bite to eat and was away from the house at 4pm. Had a quick toilet and tea stop at Lymm and made it to Gretna for around 1030pm. Quick site induction and in the machine for 11pm. Worked through the night until 8am tuesday then finally booked into the hotel and after a quick pint i was showered and into the bed for 10am.
Working on rail maintainance there was some mad shifts mixing low loader and plant work but the one above was about the longest I’ve done.
To be fair to the company we were always asked if we were happy to do it and the money was never an issue. We were paid for every hour put in.
I wish the job was still there but like all good things they eventually come to an end.
Cheers
Neilf
OTS:
36 hrs form LEPE in Spain to Humber fruit merchants Hull, absolutley Pie eyed and got told to unload it too, he got told to get foooked