Pimpdaddy:
citycat:
It’s just two attempts at the test.If you can get to take it…[emoji15]
The trainee driver vacancies are there. You just have to check all the TOC websites every week without fail. Crossrail are in the process of recruiting 400 drivers over the next couple of years at 55K p.a.
citycat:
The trainee driver vacancies are there. You just have to check all the TOC websites every week without fail. Crossrail are in the process of recruiting 400 drivers over the next couple of years at 55K p.a.
I got Zb’ed off by a freight operator a few years ago[emoji30], I keep on eye on railforums but there nothing new that comes up within reasonable distance.
All this about its who you know is trash it don’t work like that anymore. Maybe in BR days but not now.
I work in London doing a cross London service and it’s intense driver only work.
The vacancies are all online now. You just need to bookmark each company and check for updates.
The application is a pain as they want to know about all your experiences etc, then you do the psychometric tests.
If you pass them you have an interview at the end of it which forms part of the psychometrics so fail that it’s 1 life gone.
After that you have a driver manager interview and if successful then a medical.
Training Is anything from 9 months to over a year depending on driving time with an instructor etc.
Once you qualify you get onto the top wage.
It’s not easy to get into but I done it straight off the street so it’s definitely possible.
Just to add that guideline by aslef is crap. 3 night shifts in a row my arse try 7 I’ve got this week.
The fatigue index is a load of rubbish aswell. They don’t take into consideration travel time to work.
The roster is set out so it suits the company not the driver.
Javiatrix:
It’s a very competitive application process, do LOTS of research and garnish all the psychometic test tools you can.You only get two shots at the process before you can’t apply again, so again, RESEARCH!
My experience is I made it to the final interview and failed. I plan to go through the process again when my circumstances are right again
SO. Won’t get ticket with HGV1 ( Church & England ) number then…
Class2ldn:
Just to add that guideline by aslef is crap. 3 night shifts in a row my arse try 7 I’ve got this week.
The fatigue index is a load of rubbish aswell. They don’t take into consideration travel time to work.
The roster is set out so it suits the company not the driver.
Do you have actual legal regs on top of ASLEF guidelines?
We used to have a thing called hidden which was brought in after the Clapham crash.
We can only work 13 days on the trot including ot
Max 12 hour day but we only work 10 max on passenger services
Have to have 12 hours off between shifts. Doesnt include travel.
No more then 72 hours in a 7 day period
That got dropped a few years back I believe and it’s now all governed by the fatigue index which each company can implement how they see fit.
Class2ldn:
We have a thing called hidden which was brought in after the Clapham crash.
We can only work 13 days on the trot including ot
Max 12 hour day but we only work 10 max on passenger services
Have to have 12 hours off between shifts. Doesnt include travel.
No more then 72 hours in a 7 day period
72 hours seems excessive. We have new euro regs in our job and they’re, surprise surprise, complete crap favouring the owners. We have as worse hours if not more worse than road haulage pound for pound. Some of the gripes on here, whilst I have to agree valid, knowing what I know it’s like in other sectors they don’t stand a chance of changing it on the roads.
Pimpdaddy:
I got Zb’ed off by a freight operator a few years ago[emoji30], I keep on eye on railforums but there nothing new that comes up within reasonable distance.
I applied to Freightliner when they advertised for trainee drivers - never got back to me…
Been trying to get back to the railway for years now, keep getting knocked back by FGW for some reason and I used to work for them!!!
DAF95XF:
I applied to Freightliner when they advertised for trainee drivers - never got back to me…
Been trying to get back to the railway for years now, keep getting knocked back by FGW for some reason and I used to work for them!!!
Its hard mate.[emoji57]
Pimpdaddy:
DAF95XF:
I applied to Freightliner when they advertised for trainee drivers - never got back to me…
Been trying to get back to the railway for years now, keep getting knocked back by FGW for some reason and I used to work for them!!!Its hard mate.[emoji57]
DB Schneker at Didcot yard didn’t get back to me, South West Trains I’m still waiting to hear back about the guards application I did last summer and GBRFs website is 2 years out of date… 
Northern rail put a job ad on there website on Christmas day morning for a few hours because of the amount of people applying
Can’t recall which TOC now, but they went live for trainee drivers just after new year, the ad stating 14 days closing date, but it was pulled within 24 hrs - overwhelmed with ‘suitable’ applications.
It really is a tricky game to get into. Advice from many people, if it’s where you want to head, is to start with ticket inspector/station duties. Get your foot in the door. They advertise the vacancies internally first, and only go external if they can’t fill the vacancy from staff.
el_presidente:
They advertise the vacancies internally first, and only go external if they can’t fill the vacancy from staff.
They only advertise externally as a courtesy, THEY already have somebody internally who has the job…
The only jobs that are being advertised on GWRs website are the crap ones like trolley dolly and seasonal 20 hour per week vacancies…
My brother has been a train driver all his working life, he is 54 now and currently on the Virgin Pendalinos. Money seems good at 50K+ and he gets a week off every few weeks but I don’t think he would chose the job again as, like a lot of jobs, it hasn’t changed for the better over the years. He has had a couple of suicides, the first one was a rail worker who jumped in front of his train when coming into a station and that affected him for a while. The second one was at night so he didn’t see anything, he said that you can usually tell when you have hit either a person or an animal as folk start feinting when you come into a station! 
The poor sods who have to clean underneath the train afterwards have my sympathies, it wouldn’t suit me I’m afraid.
Pete.
Instead of train driving what about signalling, I started 2 years ago best thing I’ve done. Just had this months payslip and just short of £37000 for 11 months with one month left of the tax year, that’s for a 4 day week 3 week roster 28 hours 1st week, 38 2nd and 33 hours 3rd week. Sure beats driving.
DAF95XF:
They only advertise externally as a courtesy, THEY already have somebody internally who has the job…
+1
windrush:
My brother has been a train driver all his working life, he is 54 now and currently on the Virgin Pendalinos.
Lucky him, I’d give my right nut to have that job.
mac12:
Instead of train driving what about signalling
Just as hard to get into IMO, tried it a few years ago with network rail.
mac12:
Instead of train driving what about signalling, I started 2 years ago best thing I’ve done. Just had this months payslip and just short of £37000 for 11 months with one month left of the tax year, that’s for a 4 day week 3 week roster 28 hours 1st week, 38 2nd and 33 hours 3rd week. Sure beats driving.
as an ex signaller can only agree 28years on the boxes shame they are all closing and its all regional control centers now
where are you based mate and what grade ?
I was a Signalman for 11 years 1979-1990 and the job nearly killed me, the hours were horrendous because of staff shortages 12 hour shifts nights/days 7 days a week 84 hours month after month, and while the job is going well fair enough, but if it goes wrong due to signalling failures then sheer terror takes over at times, and when I started we used to have gaffers who had worked their way through the ranks and actually knew what they were doing and talking about, in the mid 80s that changed and we got “Management Trainees” who were University educated idiots, some of the thickest most ignorant people I have ever met and morale hit rock bottom, we could only progress so far then you stopped, no degree. of all the men i worked with there are only two of us alive now, suicide(3), old age and sickness has seen the rest off, it was a 3 MONTH 5 day week course at Doncaster to get in a Signal-box then, with a 50% failure rate, I left before it ended my Marriage.
Pimpdaddy:
citycat:
The trainee driver vacancies are there. You just have to check all the TOC websites every week without fail. Crossrail are in the process of recruiting 400 drivers over the next couple of years at 55K p.a.I got Zb’ed off by a freight operator a few years ago[emoji30], I keep on eye on railforums but there nothing new that comes up within reasonable distance.
You can’t get a job driving a truck… what chance you thought you had on the trains??
It’s getting late. Your mum probably needs the toilet…
