Among the Britons not happy with their extra hour in bed this morning are the royal staff who spend 40 hours changing the Queen’s 1,500 clocks in preparation.
Royal Collection Trust staff have been toiling on the timepieces at Buckingham Palace, Windsor and Holyrood, in preparation for the UK switching back to Greenwich Mean Time on Sunday.
A team of horological conservators worked through the weekend to tweak the musical, astronomical and miniature clocks, including 450 at Windsor Castle, 600 at Buckingham Palace and 50 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The clock change, which has always fallen on the last Sunday of October, meant a long Sunday morning lie-in for Britain on October 25.
A member of the Royal Collection Trust adjusts an early 19th-century French mantel clock in the Crimson Drawing Room at Windsor Castle
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth looks on at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Science Park near Salisbury last week
At 2am last night (Sunday October 25) the time in the UK went back to 1am as Greenwich Mean Time replaces British Summer Time
By moving our clocks forward in the summer every year, in a tradition marked with the Summer Time Act 1916, farmers and workers are given another hour of daylight to work, and output would be increased.
Originally, this was to contribute towards the war effort, since there was more light in the evenings.
It had been discussed for a number of years beforehand by the Government but many people opposed it the first time around.
A man called William Willett wrote a whole pamphlet about it in 1907 called ‘The Waste of Daylight’ about how people wasted valuable hours of light during the summer.
A Horological Conservator adjusts an early 19th-century French mantel clock in the Crimson Drawing Room at Windsor Castle
A member of the Queen’s staff adjusts the gallery clock in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle
He was also a keen golfer and would become rather annoyed when it got too dark for him to continue playing in the evening.
Sadly he died in 1915, a year before it was introduced in the UK.
When the clocks went back last night, Britain reverted to Greenwich Mean Time.
However, night workers may have had to work an extra hour, and those working on Sunday morning may have got confused with the time.
It comes as new research has warned that the end of British Summer Time (BST) is followed by thousands more road crashes a week.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car said over the past five years, demand for replacement vehicles has increased by an average of 8% in the two weeks after the clocks go back, compared with the previous fortnight.
Replacement vehicles are provided to a driver when their own vehicle is being repaired following a collision or fault.
The clocks going back one hour on Sunday at 2am will mean lighter mornings but an earlier sunset, with darkness due to fall at around 4pm in December.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car carried out analysis of Government data which it claimed indicates there could be an additional 10,000 accidents in the two weeks immediately after BST.
The firm’s head of replacement sales for the UK and Ireland Stuart Sandell said: ‘The clocks going back marks the beginning of the winter driving season and that always presents more risks for drivers.
‘As a lot of people get caught out in the weeks immediately afterwards and on into November, we would advise everyone to take special care when they drive after the clocks go back.
‘Many more people are relying on a car as their main mode of travel since Covid-19.
‘Many may be driving older, potentially less well-maintained vehicles with less modern safety equipment, and they are likely to be less accustomed to driving in dark, wet, icy conditions.
Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin first had the idea to change the clocks while he was in Paris in 1784
‘Many drivers will also have chosen to defer their MOT due to Covid-19, which could further increase the risks.’
Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart estimated that annual road deaths in the UK could be cut by 4.5% by scrapping the October clock change.
It pointed to November and December 2019, which saw pedestrian and cyclist deaths rise to 7,131 – an increase of 344 on the two months before the clock change.
Neil Greig, policy and research director at IAM RoadSmart, said: ‘Every year there are unnecessary victims of road collisions throughout the winter months during commutes to work or school which could easily be avoided if the Government scrapped the process of changing the clocks.
‘Young pedestrians under 15 are already a huge ‘at risk’ group for road safety, and that risk becomes even greater as the nights draw in.’