Night people: Mindy Jhamat, paramedic

Mindy Jhamat, a paramedic in Oldbury
Mindy Jhamat, a paramedic in Oldbury, West Midlands. Photograph: Andrew Fox

It's four days on, then four days off for me. During those working days life completely stops – I do two 12-hour days followed by two 12-hour nights. It's completely shattering, but I would never think about doing anything else.

The night changes everything for paramedics. It's busier than a day shift – sometimes the callouts are non-stop – and the type of incidents you get called to are different. Obviously there are more assaults and more drunken brawls, but road traffic accidents and house calls are worse too: the roads are empty so people drive faster and crashes are far more serious. Also, people often put off calling 999 during the day, only realising how poorly they are when it gets to bedtime and they can't face a night of being so ill.

You have to be more alert too. You might think nothing of treating someone on an estate at 4pm, but at 4am you do watch your back more. There are just two of you in that ambulance and so you only have one other person to look out for you.

Sometimes we get the lonely hearts-type people calling us out at night. They try to make their call plausible, and when we turn up they just say: "Oh, I'm not feeling very well." Really, they're just lonely and they want a chat. You know you're helping them out – but if a serious road traffic accident happens while you're there and you realise you need to go, you can get quite cross with them.

Driving through the streets when most people are asleep is great. You might see a handful of people out and about and you always wonder what on earth they're doing. Why is that lady walking that dog at 2pm? That man – has he had an argument with his wife or does he work the late shift too?

There are certain spots I love driving along at night: one hill takes you up to a beautiful viewpoint where you can see the whole of Birmingham city centre lit up. I love being up there, looking down at my patch, thinking about all the people that are down there resting, and how busy it will be in just a few hours.

Sometimes I have to go on training courses and so I work nine to five: it's just so boring and I always find that it makes life harder. Everyone else goes to work, goes home, goes shopping, goes out at exactly the same time as you. At least with my shift pattern I can buy vegetables at 6.30am when the supermarket aisles are clear. But the best thing? Sitting on the M6 on my way home looking at everyone going to work and knowing that I'm going home to bed.

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