Ive never fell asleep at work, I did coming home from a weekend away with my wife, flew into Manchester airport from Barcelona decided to drive home to Scotland instead of staying the night. Wife heard me talking to myself veering onto hard shoulder screamed at me & managed to catch it in time. V scary.
ezydriver:
Noeleen:
ezydriver:
Always driven on nights, and it doesn’t really happen to me anymore. But I remember one occasion when I began driving where I fell asleep for about half a second clockwise by heathrow at 6am. I’d veered into lane 2, and luckily it was empty. Around the same time I was heading down the A43 towards J15a Northampton, and was only half hour from home, but doing the old slapping myself to stay awake thing. I was so fatigued I halucinated and saw cones blocking my path with a ‘road closed’ sign. I ‘ploughed’ into the imaginary cones and that woke me up for the last 10 minutes back to the yard.Ever since those days I pull over for 15 or 20 mins and set my alarm if I feel too tired to
drive, but that’s rare these days.I myself think its a very hard job to do night work
It’s all I’ve known mate. If I went on days I think I’d die from the culture shock lol.
[/quote]
+1 
The trouble with pulling over for a little sleep is most of us are monitored by trackers.
So when asked why you pulled over and you tell your employer you did it for a little sleep they could send you for a medical assessment.
and you could get diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or something like apnea which would mean you would have to tell the DVLA and it could mean you loose your license
villa:
The trouble with pulling over for a little sleep is most of us are monitored by trackers.
So when asked why you pulled over and you tell your employer you did it for a little sleep they could send you for a medical assessment.
and you could get diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or something like apnea which would mean you would have to tell the DVLA and it could mean you loose your license
That would be fine with me as I would not want to work for a firm like that who constantly watch the tracker to that extent anyway, nor would I 
If you are tired it should be totally irrelavent that some prick in an office thinks you should just carry on with it.
9 times out of 10 drivers are tired due to schedules set which coincide with ridiculous long (but legal 
) hours set by these firms anyway.
robroy:
I know I keep banging on about this 15 on/9 off thing, but in this world of over the top H&S regs, how can driving a 44 tonner after as little as 6 hours kip, by the time you get showered fed unwind and eventually get to bed…worse if a non tramper having travelling to and from work time also… be considered reasonable and safe?
Ok cue the heroes who say ‘‘I only need a couple of hours to start a 15 hour’’ (daily routine endurance excercise70 or so hours also, …wtf is all that about, and NO it ''Hasn’t ‘‘Always been like that’’ either, before the heroes come back again.
The whole rule thing wants brought into Century 21.Me and my Mrs were nearly cleaned up in her car by a [zb] log truck coming round a bend on the wrong side on Monday, …with a [zb] big gaping yawn on his boat, then a startled look when he woke up.
Spot on that. I’ve had agencies offering work at 1992 rates and they finish it off by telling you it’s great, beacuse you can get the hours!! It’s bonkers.
halewood:
robroy:
I know I keep banging on about this 15 on/9 off thing, but in this world of over the top H&S regs, how can driving a 44 tonner after as little as 6 hours kip, by the time you get showered fed unwind and eventually get to bed…worse if a non tramper having travelling to and from work time also… be considered reasonable and safe?
Ok cue the heroes who say ‘‘I only need a couple of hours to start a 15 hour’’ (daily routine endurance excercise70 or so hours also, …wtf is all that about, and NO it ''Hasn’t ‘‘Always been like that’’ either, before the heroes come back again.
The whole rule thing wants brought into Century 21.Me and my Mrs were nearly cleaned up in her car by a [zb] log truck coming round a bend on the wrong side on Monday, …with a [zb] big gaping yawn on his boat, then a startled look when he woke up.
Spot on that. I’ve had agencies offering work at 1992 rates and they finish it off by telling you it’s great, beacuse you can get the hours!! It’s bonkers.
Yeh great for them because they sure as hell won’t be paid 1992 rates by their client.
So then they cream off the rate, pay the drivers to the total of those 1992 rates, the same drivers work 70 plus hours, and then boast about their ‘‘Good money’’ after being knackered working to what equates to a week and a half. 
Drivers? Priceless.
robroy:
halewood:
robroy:
I know I keep banging on about this 15 on/9 off thing, but in this world of over the top H&S regs, how can driving a 44 tonner after as little as 6 hours kip, by the time you get showered fed unwind and eventually get to bed…worse if a non tramper having travelling to and from work time also… be considered reasonable and safe?
Ok cue the heroes who say ‘‘I only need a couple of hours to start a 15 hour’’ (daily routine endurance excercise70 or so hours also, …wtf is all that about, and NO it ''Hasn’t ‘‘Always been like that’’ either, before the heroes come back again.
The whole rule thing wants brought into Century 21.Me and my Mrs were nearly cleaned up in her car by a [zb] log truck coming round a bend on the wrong side on Monday, …with a [zb] big gaping yawn on his boat, then a startled look when he woke up.
Spot on that. I’ve had agencies offering work at 1992 rates and they finish it off by telling you it’s great, beacuse you can get the hours!! It’s bonkers.
Yeh great for them because they sure as hell won’t be paid 1992 rates by their client.
So then they cream off the rate, pay the drivers to the total of those 1992 rates, the same drivers work 70 plus hours, and then boast about their ‘‘Good money’’ after being knackered working to what equates to a week and a half.
Drivers? Priceless.
You’ve only got to look at the amount of racist Tories on here, with their I’m alright jack attitude, to see why the games gone this way. 
halewood:
robroy:
halewood:
robroy:
I know I keep banging on about this 15 on/9 off thing, but in this world of over the top H&S regs, how can driving a 44 tonner after as little as 6 hours kip, by the time you get showered fed unwind and eventually get to bed…worse if a non tramper having travelling to and from work time also… be considered reasonable and safe?
Ok cue the heroes who say ‘‘I only need a couple of hours to start a 15 hour’’ (daily routine endurance excercise70 or so hours also, …wtf is all that about, and NO it ''Hasn’t ‘‘Always been like that’’ either, before the heroes come back again.
The whole rule thing wants brought into Century 21.Me and my Mrs were nearly cleaned up in her car by a [zb] log truck coming round a bend on the wrong side on Monday, …with a [zb] big gaping yawn on his boat, then a startled look when he woke up.
Spot on that. I’ve had agencies offering work at 1992 rates and they finish it off by telling you it’s great, beacuse you can get the hours!! It’s bonkers.
Yeh great for them because they sure as hell won’t be paid 1992 rates by their client.
So then they cream off the rate, pay the drivers to the total of those 1992 rates, the same drivers work 70 plus hours, and then boast about their ‘‘Good money’’ after being knackered working to what equates to a week and a half.
Drivers? Priceless.You’ve only got to look at the amount of racist Tories on here, with their I’m alright jack attitude, to see why the games gone this way.
Singing from same hymn sheet mate. 
sammym:
I fell asleep once driving a truck. Only for a few seconds. It’s something I will never do again.
Me too. Woke up as the offside wheels rumbled over onto the hard shoulder. Had to swerve away from the crash barrier. Pulled over on the hard shoulder at the next junction to get a few hours sleep, and called time on the job as soon as I got back to base.
villa:
The trouble with pulling over for a little sleep is most of us are monitored by trackers.
So when asked why you pulled over and you tell your employer you did it for a little sleep they could send you for a medical assessment.
and you could get diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or something like apnea which would mean you would have to tell the DVLA and it could mean you loose your license
I think you’re more likely to lose your licence, and possibly your liberty, if you fall asleep at the wheel.
Unless you are persistently tired in circumstances where no reasonable and healthy person would be, and especially if it has a sudden onset, then I can’t see any likelihood of losing your licence simply because you had a kip at work.
villa:
The trouble with pulling over for a little sleep is most of us are monitored by trackers.
So when asked why you pulled over and you tell your employer you did it for a little sleep they could send you for a medical assessment.
and you could get diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or something like apnea which would mean you would have to tell the DVLA and it could mean you loose your license
Surely if you are indeed suffering from a sleeping disorder such as Sleep Apnea it’s far better to get it diagnosed and dealt with than to continue to try to hide it until the inevitable happens and you actually do fall asleep and take out a traffic queue?
Roymondo:
villa:
The trouble with pulling over for a little sleep is most of us are monitored by trackers.
So when asked why you pulled over and you tell your employer you did it for a little sleep they could send you for a medical assessment.
and you could get diagnosed with a sleeping disorder or something like apnea which would mean you would have to tell the DVLA and it could mean you loose your licenseSurely if you are indeed suffering from a sleeping disorder such as Sleep Apnea it’s far better to get it diagnosed and dealt with than to continue to try to hide it until the inevitable happens and you actually do fall asleep and take out a traffic queue?
If you get diagnosed though - the doctor would have to inform DVLA, and that’s the licence gone then and there!
The best way to work nights I’ve found over 25 years - is to grab whatever kip you can, whenever you can.
Parked on Bay for 3 hours? - Get your head down!
Waiting outside behind two other slow-to-unload artics? - Get your head down!
On your official break for one hour? - Get your head down!
Got a four hour drive in front of you? - Do two hours, and get your head down for 90 minutes to break the journey!
Getting the nodding dog whilst driving around the M25 in morning rush hour - scrares the crap out of me. I’ll make use of all the above as and when I can to avert such a disaster unfolding that actually falling asleep in dense traffic would become.
I’m wondering if I was following the same driver around the same stretch of M25 last night… This time though, it was a Supermarket curtainsider…
But there he was. Swinging about from lane to lane, narrowly missing the bridge posts.
C’mon folks - wake up there! If you are struggling to work the 15 hour shifts on agency - then don’t work for agencies, especially supermarket work!
If you’re burning the candle at both ends, turning up to work already having been up over 12 hours - then FFS - isn’t it time to consider hanging up your keys? 
If I am driving and I’m tired or feeling myself starting to crash or swerving etc then I will be pulling over ASAP. My life is worth way more than someone’s load so if it arrives late then so be it as I will be having a sleep. I am lucky that the company I work for will never question if a driver pulls over and has a sleep if they are tired and said driver will never be punished for doing the common sense thing and having a rest. If anyone tried to give me ■■■■ for pulling over for half hour or an hour or so to have a nap then I’d be walking away that same day! It should be noted that I drive over in Canada but I did drive in the uk before I came here so I know how assholish planners and TMs can be, even so, I have driven fatigued before and I ■■■■■■■ hated it but was young and new to the job and not used to running through the night and my load was booked in at an RDC so carried on regardless. Even so, as I said, my life is worth more than a trailer of groceries and there are plenty of jobs out there that won’t penalise for being safe and sensible. As for sleep apnia, I did not know you can loose your licence if you get diagnosed, over here, companies have a fatigue management programme and will send drivers to be assessed and if diagnosed they will even pay for a sleep app machine for the driver to keep with him in his truck but driver is obliged to use it every night or be fired. They are all logged when used and what not so company can check if driver is using it when he is supposed to. I would have thought companies would do that in the uk too!
Winseer:
If you get diagnosed though - the doctor would have to inform DVLA, and that’s the licence gone then and there!
I know two drivers not trampers who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and both are still driving. Their sleeping masks monitor their rest and the record has to be given to dvsa or the doctor if they ask. As long as enough sleep is recorded it isnt a problem.
Winseer:
If you get diagnosed though - the doctor would have to inform DVLA, and that’s the licence gone then and there!
So, are you saying we should not go to a Doctor when we may have a medical problem in case our licence is suspended?
I can see the hardship that may cause to a driver, and there should be a better insurance type scheme for such loss of employment through medical unfitness.
Getting an occasional episode of tiredness is surely normal.
Ignoring repeated tiredness, and a possible medical condition is irresponsible.
I have a sleep disorder, and before you get excited, my doctor and the dvla are aware. I only sleep for about 4 hours and that is every other day. It’s a lifelong condition, I was on Valium at 3 years old to make me sleep.
Point of fact is that I am in the right job now, I can cope with the 15 hours days, because I don’t get tired, and I can do long hours and still maintain a work life balance and have time for myself.
But still I choose to work in a job that’s 8 hrs and I have more time for family/personal stuff.
I admit, if you had a problem where you didn’t get sleep and were tired all the time, probably the last thing you should be doing is driving trucks.
Winseer:
The best way to work nights I’ve found over 25 years - is to grab whatever kip you can, whenever you can.
Parked on Bay for 3 hours? - Get your head down!
Waiting outside behind two other slow-to-unload artics? - Get your head down!
On your official break for one hour? - Get your head down!
Got a four hour drive in front of you? - Do two hours, and get your head down for 90 minutes to break the journey!Getting the nodding dog whilst driving around the M25 in morning rush hour - scrares the crap out of me. I’ll make use of all the above as and when I can to avert such a disaster unfolding that actually falling asleep in dense traffic would become.
Not done a whole lot of driving for a while but I HAVE done some jobs that kept me up late, shall we say.
WInseer nailed it here, imho.
Franglais:
Winseer:
If you get diagnosed though - the doctor would have to inform DVLA, and that’s the licence gone then and there!So, are you saying we should not go to a Doctor when we may have a medical problem in case our licence is suspended?
I can see the hardship that may cause to a driver, and there should be a better insurance type scheme for such loss of employment through medical unfitness.Getting an occasional episode of tiredness is surely normal.
Ignoring repeated tiredness, and a possible medical condition is irresponsible.
I would be inclined to agree. The problem here stems from companies that don’t pay sick pay. “Feeling Ill?” - You’re effectively sacking yourself, or suspending yourself on zero pay.
It might be an irresponsible thing for a driver to keep stumn, when they should be seeing their doctor - but what of the firm’s culture that encourages such irresponsible behaviour?
Isn’t Sleep Apnoea for example, the sudden onset of acute tiredness that can have you nod off before you even realize you are drifting out of lane?
I put it to the community that the vast majority of sleep-related RTAs involving Pro Drivers is simply “Being up too many hours with insufficient rest”.
15 hours on shift is one thing. 15 hours about your private life before coming to work - is quite another!