Skid
Standby duty is an interesting point. The maximum is 35 a year. In order to stay within this a typical block is 3 followed by 2 av days which are in theory unlimited. This is because a lot of trips are 5 days. An av is 8.30am-10.30am contactable and 12 hours notice. If this did not happen then a 5 day trip would incur 2 day off payments. I get called on average every other block, but rarely at short notice. About once or twice a year on average. About half the crew live outside the 2 hr range many from as far as the south of France. The options include bed and breakfast, staying with friends, or driving to a motorway service station 2 hrs from base with a mobile for 8 hrs!!. Many do. Most stay at home and chance it with the back up of car won"t start etc. I am one of those that ring crewing the night before a sby block rather than a phone call at 6am, the theory being that most crew go sick the day before rather than short notice, which could really drop someone in it. Hope this helps