The Highway Man:
Average take home on a flat month is approx £1550 after deductions. It’s not a bad job, I dont have any qualifications to speak off, but I had 20 years of “operational” experience so qualifications aren’t everything.
You must be lying - Or doing a shedload of overtime. Chas clearly stated that the average HATO’s top line is £40k - which would give you a lot more than £1550 in your bank account every month!
I don’t know where 40K comes from. I am a Team Manager, the equivalent to a sergeant and I earnt 34k last year, and that’s with a little bit of overtime too. The job is superb, no day the same and your day can change in a second from sitting having a cuppa to spending next few hours on a closure. I can’t comment on the management though 
Tipper Tom:
Sorry I phrased that badly.Why do you want to be a Traffic Womble?
Why not? The haulage industry is going backwards in terms of how it treats it ‘employees’. Time for public sector working for me. Why be a Traffic ‘womble’? I suppose a sense of helping members of the public in their time of distress and being able to make a positive difference to someone’s life. Be that in a major incident, or simply helping to change a spare wheel. Trucking has had its day as far as I’m concerned. 
I’d love to do it, applied in the past, didn’t have enough experience.
At the time I’d been driving PCV for 7 years, and then I’d gone on to LGV C doing recovery work and had just passed my C+E. I had a current St Johns 1st aid certificate too.
No idea what they’re looking for, I thought I’d be ideal and the job would suit me, but I wasn’t, didn’t even get to interview stage.
Not sure I’d suit it now, although I think I’d enjoy it, I don’t suffer fools easily and am not shy in telling someone if I think they’re a plonker, even if I’ve gotta sit in a Disco with them sulking for the next 8hrs 
I initially applied for the HA back in 2007 and was told that I’d made the list for the talent ‘pool’ they were creating. I heard back from them in 2009 to say that there would be no further recruitment drives in the foreseeable future. I took this to mean their funding had been cut. It would now appear that the government has decided to increase funding to the HA as they are now a separate entity. I was told by a Traffic Officer that one really has to sell oneself at the interview stage. Personally, I feel I could make a positive contribution to the HA, but we’ll see. Here’s hoping.
waynedl:
I’d love to do it, applied in the past, didn’t have enough experience.
At the time I’d been driving PCV for 7 years, and then I’d gone on to LGV C doing recovery work and had just passed my C+E. I had a current St Johns 1st aid certificate too.No idea what they’re looking for, I thought I’d be ideal and the job would suit me, but I wasn’t, didn’t even get to interview stage.
Not sure I’d suit it now, although I think I’d enjoy it, I don’t suffer fools easily and am not shy in telling someone if I think they’re a plonker, even if I’ve gotta sit in a Disco with them sulking for the next 8hrs
sounds just like me when i tried to get a job as a womble!
can remember an accident i was in last year. some farmers lost 2 ton of hay 50 foot in front of me.
phoned plod. and them saw some blues Sat up m55.
walked back to find ambulance and hato “dealing with the accident”.
just they hadn’t seen 5 cars and the hey Sat 300yds infront of them.
the hato i spoke to had just found the ambulance stopped dealing with part of the incident. and hadn’t looked for why 2 cars had rear ended
Roymondo:
The Highway Man:
Average take home on a flat month is approx £1550 after deductions. It’s not a bad job, I dont have any qualifications to speak off, but I had 20 years of “operational” experience so qualifications aren’t everything.You must be lying - Or doing a shedload of overtime. Chas clearly stated that the average HATO’s top line is £40k - which would give you a lot more than £1550 in your bank account every month!
Whoever told you HATOs are on 40k PA is talking out their arse or winding you up. Maybe an operations manager is on that, but a lowly HATO is on roughly £24k a year including shift allowance before deductions. 
I thought your hatos only stopped when requested and who says there like a sargent in a civi job.he sounded like a hobby bobby
What he means is they’re in charge of a section of HATOs like a Sergeant is in charge of a section of coppers.
Thank you Highwayman. I was talking about the position, not the role.
"Maybe those with good jobs keep quiet about it so numpties don’t apply and kick the arse out the job with sickies ■■■■ taking and incompetence.
Be honest now how many people in our profession do you personally know that you would employ if you were looking, if you can come up with 5 you’ll be doing well".
Are we not talking opposite ends here?
If all the bods you knew were plonkers, with no chance of doing the job as well as you could, then they would never be competition that you’d worry about “taking your job away from you” - right?
At the other end, if your mates were top-notch guys who make you look bad by just turning up, then you’ve got good reason to keep any cushy job you might be holding down secret from them. 
The trouble comes when you don’t know the reason for why you’ve been apparently blackballed by say, your former classmates when they are in a job that you’d both like, and already have experience/qualifications to get into OK… But you can’t get in, because no one already there will vouch for you, and it’s that kind of job where “who you know” is everything… 
“I didn’t want to be a lumberjack…”
I worked for the Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service for 3 years. It was a good job, working 8 hour shifts in a 6-on,3-off pattern - 3 earlies (0600-1400), 3 lates (1400-2200), 3 off, 3 cover shifts (any hours, as required), 3 nights (2200-0600), 3 off, then repeat.
After a while, the bureaucracy and management began to get to me, and the budget cuts when the Tories came to power were the final push I needed to jump ship. Now I work in the world of Motorway Maintenance (private contractor) and earn way more than the £24k the Highways Agency were prepared to pay me…
I have to say though, the job at ‘grass roots’ level was good - no two days the same, generally decent people to work with, you see all sorts of things that most people wouldn’t believe unless they saw it themselves…!
Just be prepared to work alongside people who are doing exactly the same job as you, but getting paid much more for it. From what I’ve seen, the starting salary for this latest round of recruitment has been slashed massively compared to when I was there.
if you are applying then read the application form a couple of times properly, don’t just skim read it and start writing.
The questions may have changed a bit, but they will ask you what YOU did over and above you normal duties. Anything that states We did they will ignore!
Also they will ask you to state your answers in no more than ### words, COUNT THE WORDS! they certainly will! anything over the stated number will be ignored. you need to get you point over somewhere near to the full amount of works allowed as well.
Get someone else to check you application. A) Are you answering the question asked? B) Is you spelling & grammar OK? C) Is your writing neat & readable?
Make sure that you include anything asked for. This certainly applies to your references, at the next stage in the process after the initial “Papershift” (Done by an outside firm usually") They will contact your references, and ask them to fill out a form that relates to you. (They did want at least one of the references to come from a previous employer, don’t know if that still applies)
Make sure that it is sent in the correct size envelope stated, if they ask for a SAE, don’t forget to enclose one.
Read the application again at lease twice before you send it, I can’t stress enough that you must comply with all the questions and restrictions etc. You will get marked down for anything that you do wrong.
Long experience in your present job doesn’t naturally qualify you, it’s “Life experience” they’re looking for, and how YOU dealt with it. We’ve had 18yr olds and 62 yr old make the grade.
The papershift is normally done by an outside company, they will cut the numbers down to a much depleted amount, so you need to impress! Once the papershift has been completed, the applicants will be invited to an assessment interview, this will be like no other interview that you’ve had, they will throw scenarios at you to see how you’d deal with them, even though you’ve no training, just to test your common sense.
If you pass the assessment, you will be grade by the assessors, the better grades will be offered jobs first, depending on a full security check, and health check. Other who pass will be put on a waiting list, and may be offered jobs should one previously chosen not take up the offer.
Fair enough and no offense just sounded ott for describing your supervisor role but no aggro intended
I sent off the initial application form online on Thursday. It was just a basic information format, ie personal details, previous employers etc. I received an email today inviting me to complete a ‘Situational Judgement’ test. The questions seem fairly common sense. For instance,
“If you have witnessed an incident that has left you distressed, do you”
a) keep these feelings to yourself.
B) discuss with you fellow colleagues
C) discuss with your family
D) speak to your line manager
The rest of the questions follow a similar theme.
Ah! obviously things have changed, but it’s still a look at you, what you’re made of, and how you’d react. It would be interesting to see the new questionnaire.
Salary Minimum
£18440
Salary Maximum
£21545 + 20 % shift allowance (if in london waiting area + 1k).
That makes up your 24k. at final salary having been employed a few years.
It will also take you 3 to 5 years approx (unless it changes meantime - and things are changing rapidly), to reach that top salary max payband.
It is yearly increments providing you attain satisfactory grading at yearly performance check time.
By 2015 , it will no longer be a civil service posting - the company is going Public 14-15 , there will be no CS pension after that.
Things are changing as we speak,
Do your research,
Be prepared to be flexible,
Dont expect promotions or pay rises (there are none for 95 % -give or take- ).
Fill the forms in correctly and honestly.
Be a Team Player.
Be expectant of a culture within, there will be someone ready to have one over you -thats life, there is a whistle-blow policy.
… and remember, If your not happy with the job - there are 2 thousand others waiting to take your place." If you dont like it, F`-off ".
Dont whinge.