Trainee train drivers wanted...

[MitchT]

ChocolateFrog said:

The whole advert has a bit of a written by the work experience kid vibe about it.

Reads like the person writing it doesn't have a clue. Also seems to be phrased like it's been written for a careers advisor visiting a school to hand out to the kids!

[ChocolateFrog]

wobman said:

I do find the people who say the role of a train driver is easy have never actually done the job, as previously said having 12hrs between shifts of nearly 10hrs in length are not easy.

I have shifts booking on a 2.30am that are over 9hrs long, with some have main rest breaks in the first hour of the job or some in the last hour of the job !
I can drive nearly 5hrs continuous driving with 6 minutes turnaround if I'm lucky, one job was 3mins but upped to 6mins now due to covid.....

Every minute of your day is rostered on your diagram aswell & every part of your driving is monitored on a OTMR system. With Rideout's by managers & downloads of your driving monitored.

Plus we have medicals & rules exams every few years depending on your age or competency etc

I'm not trying to put a downer on the role of a train driver & it's like all jobs you take the rough with the smooth.
But its nice to know what's involved in being a driver, the elements mentioned I find do shock a lot of new starters in the job.

It's a great career but it's not for everyone & it's not at all a family friendly role with its hours.

I'm interested to see how I'll deal with it.

My last job involved 5am starts for £12ph and my job before that involved, admittedly infrequently, 6 month shifts in Afghanistan, which really was a disruption to family life.

I'm hoping I'm prepared for the unsocial hours aspect of the job although I guess you never really know until you're doing it.

As for money. It was certainly one of the attracting factors, if it paid £20k would I have applied? Probably not. But it certainly wasn't the only factor.

I used to ski for 3 months a year in the Army, whenever people bhed and moaned about not working for a living I'd just send them the link to the Army recruitment page, that usually piped them down.

I'd suggest this is similar and the medical requirements are way less stringent than joining the Army, recruitment process is easier too so no excuses.

[Stedman]

hucumber said:

For that sort of money I certainly wouldn't be complaining

You might when you can't go to a wedding even though you tried to book the day off 11.5 months off in advance. Or get Sunday's screwed because we have no T+Cs on them.

But I do appreciate we have a good gig, but it's not what the outsiders think it is and certainly not without it's downsides (read: part of the reason the pay is what it is).

[anonymous-user]

Stedman said:

hucumber said:

For that sort of money I certainly wouldn't be complaining

You might when you can't go to a wedding even though you tried to book the day off 11.5 months off in advance. Or get Sunday's screwed because we have no T+Cs on them.

But I do appreciate we have a good gig, but it's not what the outsiders think it is and certainly not without it's downsides (read: part of the reason the pay is what it is).

Mate I'm a firefighter. Weddings, Christmas, sundays, nights, got to work. And for half the salary posted above!
I do understand the downsides to train driving, and don't for one minute think its an easy job, I was just surprised at how much the pay was (and not saying it isn't deserved!)

[naturals]

Stedman said:

You might when you can't go to a wedding even though you tried to book the day off 11.5 months off in advance. Or get Sunday's screwed because we have no T+Cs on them.

But I do appreciate we have a good gig, but it's not what the outsiders think it is and certainly not without it's downsides (read: part of the reason the pay is what it is).

I fly for a living so there's a lot of overlap (mates who are train drivers moan about the same stuff).

I missed my own brother's wedding because of work. I made it to the reception after my wife sped down the motorway with me in the passenger seat getting changed out of my uniform.

Nearly missed the arrival of my daughter because work wanted to send me to Milan (when that was the epicentre of Covid) the day before her due date.

The number of people I fly with who are divorced is insane. These careers take a *really* understanding family.

[Scrubs]

Bathroom_Security said:

£58,487 for this jesus

https://careers-gbrailfreight.icims.com/jobs/1737/...

I once knew a train driver, he was absolutely brain dead are you all like that?

I've been a driver for 20 years now, passed out when I was 21 years old.

I made 6 figures last year working for a certain private freight company. I will happily remain 'brain dead' for the nice lifestyle it affords me.

Good luck to anyone currently going through the process.

[valiant]

SmoothCriminal said:

Completely pointless comparing jobs they're all different, for a fact being a London bus driver is 1000 times harder than driving a train.

The fact t&c's on the trains may not be as good as back in the day is because your beloved union sold them out.

If you can't do shifts or are so desperate you need to attending weddings or social events and miss out on 50+k with no stress when you remove your key then that's your shout and maybe a best sticking to a 9-5.

Back in the day, London bus drivers used to earn very similar to tube drivers who also used to earn a little bit more than their BR counterparts.

Tube was generally top of the pay league tables but now are pretty much mid table paying the national average and bus drivers have fallen way, way, way down.

Deregulation and privatisation caused bus drivers wages to stagnate and fall in many cases whilst privatisation also caused train drivers salaries to increase quite markedly over a similar time frame mainly due to TOCs poaching drivers rather than go to the expense of training one up from scratch.

Unions did let bus drivers down but it can’t all be laid at their doors. Low entry requirements, high demand for jobs and a constant churn of employees have equally kept their wages down. Evidenced by comparing a London bus driver to one from the shires. London bus drivers pay quite a bit more as no one wants the job for all the grief they have to endure compared to earning a few quid more than minimum wage for driving a bus around the countryside.

[ChocolateFrog]

Scrubs said:

Bathroom_Security said:

£58,487 for this jesus

https://careers-gbrailfreight.icims.com/jobs/1737/...

I once knew a train driver, he was absolutely brain dead are you all like that?

I've been a driver for 20 years now, passed out when I was 21 years old.

I made 6 figures last year working for a certain private freight company. I will happily remain 'brain dead' for the nice lifestyle it affords me.

Good luck to anyone currently going through the process.

I know some people who would probably agree that I'm brain dead too, atleast I know I'm qualified.

[Stedman]

hucumber said:

Mate I'm a firefighter. Weddings, Christmas, sundays, nights, got to work. And for half the salary posted above!
I do understand the downsides to train driving, and don't for one minute think its an easy job, I was just surprised at how much the pay was (and not saying it isn't deserved!)

I didn't mean my reply to sound as arsey as it seemed - I apologise for that/ Maybe it was because I'd just worked a late turn

Funnily my trainee was a Firefighter for LFB. If you do apply feel free to post back here or PM (although I may miss it as I don't check that account often...)

[ChocolateFrog]

I've got to the point where I've got a little one now and one of the criteria for me was to be able to pay for his schooling. I was let down significantly by South Yorkshire's school system in the 80's and 90's. I still live in S. Yorks and I don't think it's that much better now so the opportunity to be able to provide for him is very important to me.

We live near Clarkson's old school, Hill House so he'll be going there.

[tms996]

Thanks for the offers of advice and help. No idea how to get an email address to someone via here though.
I’ve worked shifts and unsocial hours for 25 years in the airline industry, very similar terms and work practices re the hours worked and situation. Like most of Uk I’m now unemployed and with the salaries on offer now being less than that of a running a McDonald’s, I’m looking to start again, at least with a job that has some sort of challenge to it. Can’t stand sitting at a desk in an office so it might suit me well if I can have a decent stab at the tests.

[wobman]

ChocolateFrog said:

wobman said:

I do find the people who say the role of a train driver is easy have never actually done the job, as previously said having 12hrs between shifts of nearly 10hrs in length are not easy.

I have shifts booking on a 2.30am that are over 9hrs long, with some have main rest breaks in the first hour of the job or some in the last hour of the job !
I can drive nearly 5hrs continuous driving with 6 minutes turnaround if I'm lucky, one job was 3mins but upped to 6mins now due to covid.....

Every minute of your day is rostered on your diagram aswell & every part of your driving is monitored on a OTMR system. With Rideout's by managers & downloads of your driving monitored.

Plus we have medicals & rules exams every few years depending on your age or competency etc

I'm not trying to put a downer on the role of a train driver & it's like all jobs you take the rough with the smooth.
But its nice to know what's involved in being a driver, the elements mentioned I find do shock a lot of new starters in the job.

It's a great career but it's not for everyone & it's not at all a family friendly role with its hours.

I'm interested to see how I'll deal with it.

My last job involved 5am starts for £12ph and my job before that involved, admittedly infrequently, 6 month shifts in Afghanistan, which really was a disruption to family life.

I'm hoping I'm prepared for the unsocial hours aspect of the job although I guess you never really know until you're doing it.

As for money. It was certainly one of the attracting factors, if it paid £20k would I have applied? Probably not. But it certainly wasn't the only factor.

I used to ski for 3 months a year in the Army, whenever people bhed and moaned about not working for a living I'd just send them the link to the Army recruitment page, that usually piped them down.

I'd suggest this is similar and the medical requirements are way less stringent than joining the Army, recruitment process is easier too so no excuses.

My last job involved stating at 4am for 6 days a week, usually working a 75 hr week on average. I worked outdoors doing this for 15yrs & my starting wage when I was 16 being £28 a week in the 1980's.

So I've worked a fare bit myself & a lot of people on the railway 🚂 realise the money is good but kicking a lump of leather around a football pitch for £100k a week is better pay or working in the city earning bonuses for tapping a few keys is silly money.

That's why I don't understand how people comparing the train driver role to the military or emergency services is comparable. They are very different careers with just a few similarities, for example in my depot we had 2 ex police that were let go during training recently during just 1 driver training course !

But we have people that have been HGV drivers or postmen or teachers, or from numerous varied careers that I think it's more about the person's personality & ability to adapt to the role coupled with work experience rather than there previous careers.

My comment was just stating some of the downsides to the job & helping people make an informed choice.
Such as I'm working Sunday at 5am then Monday 2.30am both 9hr shifts, but the advantage being I'm off my rest days the following Friday- Tuesday.

Our depot works a 4 day week but some work a 5 day week at different depots, but we aim to average over the year a 35hr week with Sundays 1 in 3 as committed overtime.

[ChocolateFrog]

Day 1 tomorrow.

Still half expecting Covid to get in the way but haven't heard anything sp assuming no news is good news.

[wobman]

At my TOC the training has been going ahead as scheduled, things just take longer than previously & lots of online work is being utilised whilst training.

Just go to the first day with an open mind & ready to absorb lots of information, remembering there's no such thing as a stupid question m8 👍

Good luck & try to enjoy it the best you can

[kiethton]

EarlOfHazard said:

kiethton said:

EarlOfHazard said:

Stedman said:

Southern (and TL, maybe) are after 160 Trainee Drivers.

Applications are open.

I applied - got rejected. Oh well...

Was that Southern?

The Mrs applied last week and is yet to hear anything.

Yup: application sent Sunday, rejected Tuesday

Shes still had no email - think the 12th Dec was the closing date so let's see what happens

[ChocolateFrog]

wobman said:

At my TOC the training has been going ahead as scheduled, things just take longer than previously & lots of online work is being utilised whilst training.

Just go to the first day with an open mind & ready to absorb lots of information, remembering there's no such thing as a stupid question m8 ??

Good luck & try to enjoy it the best you can

Thanks.

Will be happy after the first week is under my belt. About the 7th job I've started and the first day always feels the same.

[CharlieH89]

Are you in Manchester ChocolateFrog or Leeds?
I know they knocked through walls in the academy to make it covid compliant.

First week was straightforward and relaxed, introduction to the course and then the second week PTS. Same for you?

[thebraketester]

Every time I look positions for trainee drivers they always return "We are no longer accepting applications for this position." etc :-(

Is it fastest finger first for these jobs?

[Vickers_VC10]

thebraketester said:

Every time I look positions for trainee drivers they always return "We are no longer accepting applications for this position." etc :-(

Is it fastest finger first for these jobs?

Trainee driver roles have always had massive uptake, this is in part down to fact their isn't any set qualifications required and people seeing it as a way of earning big. The sift is brutal though as someone even wrote on here from application to rejection in a few days. For most single jobs you get several thousand if not tens of thousands of applicants. TOCs are getting very picky on who they take on, in many cases. Successful progress through the system just goes into a talent pool rather than a traditional application to start date system. These days you can be expected to lose out on a role purely on how close you are to the depot as the works within an hour of the depot is really the bare minimum, often choosing people to live as close as possible.

[ChocolateFrog]

CharlieH89 said:

Are you in Manchester ChocolateFrog or Leeds?
I know they knocked through walls in the academy to make it covid compliant.

First week was straightforward and relaxed, introduction to the course and then the second week PTS. Same for you?

Leeds.

PTS might be cancelled but it's on the cards at the moment yes.

Of the 9 people on the course only me and one other (both ex forces) are new to the industry and only 4 were not with the company already so feel quite privileged to have been selected.

Edited by ChocolateFrog on Wednesday 6th January 16:26