Moody Logistics driver Dave Blench to feature in TV night shift documentary

A driver with haulage company Moody Logistics who clocks up an amazing 90,000 miles a year is being featured in a TV documentary celebrating the North East’s unsung night shift workers.

L-R: Paul Johnson (operations and compliance manager) and night trunk driver Dave Blench

Dave Blench has driven the same 374-mile round trip between Northumberland and Leicestershire every night for the past 20 years. Since starting the overnight run in 1999, between the firm’s Cramlington base and the Pall-Ex depot in Coalville, he has clocked up a total of 1.8 million miles – the equivalent of circumnavigating the earth 72 times. Now an independent production company is filming Dave’s nightly experiences as part of a documentary to be screened by one of the major terrestrial channels. It will feature the largely untold stories of those who work through the night in the North East – one of the country’s night shift capitals – including a dairy farmer and street cleaner. Dave, who has worked as an HGV driver with Moody Logistics for 25 years, said: “I have driven the same route every night for the last 20 years and it’s become as familiar to me as popping down to the local shops. “I’m so used to working through the night that it has become second nature and my body clock is always set at night owl mode! “Many people ask me how I cope but generally it’s a very peaceful time to be on the

roads, there’s little in the way of hold ups and the queues at the truck stops are much shorter.” His daily route takes in the A1, A1(M), M18, M1 and A512 on route to the Coalville depot. The family run-firm is a long-standing member of the Pall-Ex network and is part of a consortium which recently bought the international palletised freight network from founder and Dragon’s Den star, Hilary Devey. Caroline Moody, managing director of Moody Logistics, said: “We were delighted that Dave was chosen to appear in this documentary to celebrated those on the night shift. “I hope it will give viewers a real insight and appreciation of the army of truckers who work through the night to keep this country well stocked and supplied.” Dave, of Stakeford, near Morpeth, is one of four Moody Logistics drivers who make the daily Leicestershire ‘night trunk run’.