SKYSKY - What you on!!
Of course you can do a 12 hour shift under the eu driective, including nights....Transport industry has an excemption and also an Opt Out clasue for staff should they wish to start early or finish late (overtime of course)
I think your getting confused with early morning starts....if you start before 04:00 then there is a legal limit on how many hours you can work...if you start at 4am then you can do upto a max of 9 hours rostered...and then overtime if you chose ontop..
Im guessing you dont work in ground handling SKYSKY......