Should we stop clocks going back?

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This practice is outdated, no longer needed (farmers have lights on their farming equipment etc). The country would reduce energy costs as we would not need to turn on the lights so soon in the evening.

AIBU to want to the UK to choose a time and stick with it?

It’s better that the mornings are lighter. I’m a truck driver and start at 6 am.It’s easier starting when it’s getting light, the dark causes delays , particularly as some of the places I go to aren’t particularly well lit.

The thing is, to me it doesn’t matter too much if it gets dark at 4pm or 5 pm.

But in the morning it’s makes quite a big difference if it’s dark at 7am or 8 am.
Lots of people are still tired in the mornings when they travel or get up for work. So it’s surely better that it’s lighter then?

If people are just at home putting the dinner on , watching tv, what difference does it make what time it gets dark? People are more alert in the afternoons anyway.

I remember this too. We also got light reflecting stickers to attach to our little leather backpacks, we were very excited.

If people are just at home putting the dinner on , watching tv, what difference does it make what time it gets dark? People are more alert in the afternoons anyway.
What people do in the afternoon or evening often depends on light level. I don't just cook or sit around if it is light. Many adults may not be home until after dark regardless but an hour could make a big difference to children, or adults finishing work earlier.

Where I am the hour more light in the morning makes more of a difference to school children rather than in the afternoon.

Dark just makes me tired no matter what side of the day. However I’d was never tired waking up than tired at only 5pm.

Although the EU was talking about doing away with clock changes, so we'd need to choose one or the other. I suspect we would go for GMT in that case, as Ireland is so far west in the time zone, but that would be a huge shame as we would lose so much evening daylight. If we have to choose one or the other, I'll go for darker mornings in December and January for extra evening daylight, so BST.

But I think my suggestion of putting the clocks forward three weeks earlier would be a bit of a compromise. Extra evening light in March would be great.

Not sure if there’s been some confusion. I meant it was a good idea, and yeah would love the extra evening daylight

I read your comment as terriblY not terriblE! Sorry!

Where's that? Do they play out or have activities in the morning before school? Where I am we'll have lost the hour again in five weeks anyway.

But I think my suggestion of putting the clocks forward three weeks earlier would be a bit of a compromise. Extra evening light in March would be great.
Three or possibly four weeks earlier would be good. Where I am we are changing from 8am to 7am sunrise in October but 6am to 7am sunrise March. Clocks forward a few weeks earlier wouldn't make it any darker in the mornings than it is just before the clocks go back.

I wouldn't like this. It's bad enough losing the light mornings for another few weeks when they do go forward. We already have an extra month on BST. They should go back earlier to make it 6 months of each.

I now won't get any work done in my garden after work as it is and will have to wait until the weekend. Clocks going back earlier would make things more difficult for backyard and allotment growers who work. I only brought in my green tomatoes and harvested the last of the potatoes a week ago and there is still lots more work to get done.

"Where's that? Do they play out or have activities in the morning before school? Where I am we'll have lost the hour again in five weeks anyway."

5 weeks is better than nothing though.

It's better to make the journey to school in as much daylight as possible. We have split finishes here so for at least 3 days a week they are home in daylight. 2 days per week it's getting dark when they are on the way home.

If we stayed on summertime, sunrise would be nearly 10am.

I was in Spain in September and October, I found it really difficult with it still being dark at 8am, I’d have a problem with the dark mornings if we didn’t put the clocks back

Guessing you are somewhere like Inverness? I'm in SW England and would love to keep the evening light for longer. Maybe England and Scotland could follow different time if need be.

No thanks, want to get out when it's lovely and light in the mornings. I love being all cosy early in the evenings, curtains shut etc. Cannot beat it.

Didn't they try this one year? It didn't catch on because if you were in the North or Scotland it was too dark.

I've just come back from the south of Spain. I found the dark mornings really discombobulating, it was so hard to get up.

We should stick to GMT all year round, as it is GMT is based on the most easterly part of the country. You should all remember Edinburgh (in the East of Scotland) is west of Bristol and so GMT is making Scotland get up too early as it is. They tried BST all year round in the There's no advantage to DBST, we went back to normal after the war and after the BST experiment in the 60s.

No, but we should stop putting them forward. GMT is the time we’re meant to be on.

I’m on SE England btw so not only Scots wanted GMT all year

Iirc, the results of the experiment were that 300 children's lives could be saved if we stayed on BST: drivers are tireder/more complacent in the evening, so it reduced the accidents then more than it increased the morning accidents. Don't know how that would equate today with significantly more cars on the road but fewer children walking to school independently.

The drop in evening accidents is now thought to be due to the impact of the introduction of drink driving legislation in the mid 60s.

Left work at 5 in the pitch dark and rain. Apparently the cows are still out on the common, luckily none on the road, dangerous when it's dark at peak hour and drivers are tired after work. I hate the clocks going back.

Maybe the time London is meant to be on. Or was, when our lifestyles were different.

Being on GMT all year round would just mean light mornings from 3am and it being dark by 8pm for most of the year other than in June - we'd lose the long evenings in the summer. I can't see the point of wanting more daylight when most people are still in bed/it's the middle of the night. Also we would save energy if we had more daylight in the late afternoons in winter.

If we have to choose, I'd definitely go for BST all year round.

But I imagine we'll just keep the status quo.

Depends where you are in the country,
Scotland would still have months of very long days in the summer when it never truly gets dark. In Orkney and Shetland it's called the simmer dim.