It’s in the BBC website that Virgin are recruiting 78 new drivers (I assume trainee) and they have had 15,000 applicants.
Meanwhile, transport firms can’t recruit for toffee.
Surely it’s got nothing to do with wages & working conditions? 
Arriva were advertising near me for trainee train drivers.
Year 1 £25k
Year 2&3 £45.5k
Year 4+ £48k
40hrs per week,can’t see why anyone would want all that money for doing those hours,just greedy 
I didn’t think there were 15,000 train drivers in the country?!
Are these jobs where you actually get fully trained from scratch, as in the days of old?
If so, it makes sense for 15,000 unqualified people to show an interest in such a lucrative career… 
Winseer:
I didn’t think there were 15,000 train drivers in the country?!Are these jobs where you actually get fully trained from scratch, as in the days of old?
If so, it makes sense for 15,000 unqualified people to show an interest in such a lucrative career…
Yes from scratch, a mate of mine did it several years ago and it’s really hard work to get in and a lot of training involved.
Who in their right mind would want to drive truck for 8-9 quid(class 2 like my licence) an hour. All day hustle - drivers, customers, colleagues, $hitty weather, delay’s, 12-14hrs. working day…
bald bloke:
Winseer:
I didn’t think there were 15,000 train drivers in the country?!Are these jobs where you actually get fully trained from scratch, as in the days of old?
If so, it makes sense for 15,000 unqualified people to show an interest in such a lucrative career…Yes from scratch, a mate of mine did it several years ago and it’s really hard work to get in and a lot of training involved.
It should be hard, hundreds of lives are in his hands. 
It goes to show the difference in attitude between the rail industry and haulage. They ramp up the prices and pay a fair whack, where our industry would say supply outweighs demand and drop the rate to nmw. I often wonder if the greens got their wish and freight was more prevalent on rails, how much the cost of food would rise considering how much more expensive to run a train is
to compare and contrast rail fright is dying rmweb.co.uk/community/index. … ob-losses/
Latique:
to compare and contrast rail fright is dying rmweb.co.uk/community/index. … ob-losses/
One of the comments on that forum you linked was
“How will rail ever compete with a lorry driven by an eastern European on 9 quid an hour, prepared to live in the cab all week and 600 litres of French diesel.
I’m afraid that as long as that’s the status quo , nothing will change.”
I wasn’t one of them.
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James the cat:
Latique:
to compare and contrast rail fright is dying rmweb.co.uk/community/index. … ob-losses/One of the comments on that forum you linked was
“How will rail ever compete with a lorry driven by an eastern European on 9 quid an hour, prepared to live in the cab all week and 600 litres of French diesel.
I’m afraid that as long as that’s the status quo , nothing will change.”
9quid an hour tho ■■
I applied last year for scotrail and frieghtliner didn’t get any joy though. Freightliner make you do an online test and it’s really hard 
rob22888:
It’s in the BBC website that Virgin are recruiting 78 new drivers (I assume trainee) and they have had 15,000 applicants.Meanwhile, transport firms can’t recruit for toffee.
Surely it’s got nothing to do with wages & working conditions?
Prehaps the easiest and quickest way for Virgin to fill the driver posts, would be to contact DB Cargo, they are laying off 78 drivers from their rail freight fleet
Latique:
James the cat:
Latique:
to compare and contrast rail fright is dying rmweb.co.uk/community/index. … ob-losses/One of the comments on that forum you linked was
“How will rail ever compete with a lorry driven by an eastern European on 9 quid an hour, prepared to live in the cab all week and 600 litres of French diesel.
I’m afraid that as long as that’s the status quo , nothing will change.”9quid an hour tho ■■
I’m more keen to know how they survive living in the cab on French diesel. Maybe they boil it for their tea.
Stanley Mitchell:
rob22888:
It’s in the BBC website that Virgin are recruiting 78 new drivers (I assume trainee) and they have had 15,000 applicants.Meanwhile, transport firms can’t recruit for toffee.
Surely it’s got nothing to do with wages & working conditions?
Prehaps the easiest and quickest way for Virgin to fill the driver posts, would be to contact DB Cargo, they are laying off 78 drivers from their rail freight fleet
Probably will, seems that cargo rail company laying off is only recent news. Makes sense, I don’t know much about train driving but surely a lot of already licensed drivers will want to work for Virgin. must be cheaper, unless these trainees are on second tier money
James the cat:
Latique:
James the cat:
Latique:
to compare and contrast rail fright is dying rmweb.co.uk/community/index. … ob-losses/One of the comments on that forum you linked was
“How will rail ever compete with a lorry driven by an eastern European on 9 quid an hour, prepared to live in the cab all week and 600 litres of French diesel.
I’m afraid that as long as that’s the status quo , nothing will change.”9quid an hour tho ■■
I’m more keen to know how they survive living in the cab on French diesel. Maybe they boil it for their tea.
Real Eastern Europeans drink tea only in winter and if they are sick 
48k for a 40 hour week…
Sigh.
The free market in road haulage has a major flaw from a drivers point of view !
What would the wage be if they had to steer ?
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Munchkin:
The free market in road haulage has a major flaw from a drivers point of view !
The upside being that it can employ a lot more than just 78 drivers out of every 15,000 who want a job and that’s not even factoring in established train drivers whose jobs aren’t exactly secure and are marked for redundancy.IE not much point in an ideal,possibly even too good to last,terms and conditions environment if only a handful of people stand a chance of getting or keeping a job doing it.
xichrisxi:
Arriva were advertising near me for trainee train drivers.Year 1 £25k
Year 2&3 £45.5k
Year 4+ £48k40hrs per week,can’t see why anyone would want all that money for doing those hours,just greedy
I think the advertising of train driver jobs is more a formality.With the usual process being filling the jobs internally like guards or platform staff etc.Or at least that’s what the mugs taking those jobs are usually told.IE supposedly more chance of being selected for driver training as a train guard etc than a truck driver has.