I am cabin crew and I live in the region of 1 hours drive from LGW where I am based. I had my ultimate test last month when I reported for duty at mid-day for an airport standby. On report I found that I was being positioned to another base to operate a 2 sector mainland Europe flight later on that evening and then after completion of the 2 sectors was being repositioned back to LGW.
To cut a long story short, I ended up driving home after having completed a 17hour+ duty period. I actually found that when I got back to LGW (having thought I would be shattered and concerned I may not be able to drive home safely) that I was wide awake as I was running on Adrenalin and had no problems with my journey home which was at about 05:30 in the morning when the morning rush hour was starting to get under way.
If you are concerned that you might not be fit to drive home after a long duty, then you should look at getting lodgings near to the airport you are going to be based at - or alternatively become very good friends with another member of crew who might let you bunk up on their sofa
