RED & BLACK AFTER DARK

There’s something about starting a night shift while the sky is still bright blue.

The rest of the world is beginning to wind down, but for me the working day is only getting started.

Tonight I'm out for Hawkins Logistics, with the black-and-red Volvo and a run that'll take me from Lichfield to Birmingham, then down to Dunstable before eventually heading back to Rugeley.

Nothing exotic. No mountain passes or dramatic coast roads.

Just a proper night's trucking.

And sometimes those are the best ones.

The shift started in Lichfield, where I picked up a trailer.

It wasn't going far.

In fact, after hooking up, the first delivery was only just down the road. A short movement, get the trailer where it needed to be, unload and move on.

Job one done.

There's always something satisfying about getting that first part of a shift out of the way. You're settled into the truck, everything is working as it should and the night has properly begun.

Next up: Birmingham.

And that's where I'm writing this part of the story.

I'm currently in Birmingham, waiting for the next trailer to be loaded.

Anyone who works in transport knows this part of the job very well.

You drive. You arrive. And then… you wait.

The frantic world of logistics occasionally involves a surprisingly impressive amount of sitting perfectly still.

But once the trailer is ready, the proper run begins.

From Birmingham, I'll be taking the loaded trailer south-east to Dunstable.

By then we'll be properly into night-shift territory.

Dark roads. Dashboard glow. Motorway lights. Red Hawkins trailer following behind and considerably fewer people on the road than during daylight — at least, that's the theory.

There's a completely different atmosphere to trucking at night.

Industrial estates become almost deserted. Distribution centres glow in the darkness. Motorway services become temporary gathering places for drivers working while most of the country is asleep.

And the Hawkins colours should look particularly good under the lights.

The Night Road

This is where I want to capture a few more photographs.

Not staged shots. Just moments from the shift.

The Volvo under depot lights. The trailer at Dunstable. A quiet stop somewhere along the route. Maybe even that first hint of daylight creeping over the horizon.

Because this isn't really a story about travelling from A to B.

It's about everything between them.

Once the Dunstable job is finished, there's still one final destination on tonight's route.

Rugeley.

That return leg is always different.

The main job is behind you and you're pointing the truck back towards home. Depending on how the night's gone, the roads might still be dark or the first signs of morning might already be appearing.

Either way, every mile north is another mile closer to finishing.

Lichfield. Birmingham. Dunstable. Rugeley.

A straightforward night on paper.

But then, transport has a habit of making the words “straightforward night” look dangerously optimistic.

We'll see what happens.

Tonight's story isn't finished yet.

At the moment, I'm sitting in Birmingham waiting for a trailer to be loaded. Once it's ready, it's down to Dunstable, get the job done and then turn the Volvo back towards Rugeley.

So this article stays unfinished too.

The night shift continues.