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Trainee Train Driver. What to expect?

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RBSN

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What should an applicant expect to happen once he has been invited to interview, basically passing the 'sifting' phase?

Interview A
Assessments
Interview B
Medical?

And what does the medical involve?

Thanks all
 
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RBSN

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14 Jul 2014
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383
It can vary depending on who you are applying for. Some want Assessments firsts then a general interview, followed by a depot/manager interview and then medical.

The medical isn't anything to worry about. The usual stuff; Bp check, eyesight, weight/height/bmi, hearing, ecg, urine sample, breath sample, mobility, health questionnaire etc etc etc.

I'm a little confused and I'm hoping someone can put me right. Last year I applied for a Depot Train Driver role. I passed the sift, passed the first interview and was asked to go down to Doncaster to DB for a full day of assessments. Passed those and then had, what I think, was the MMI interview, although I was alone with one guy asking lots of questions.

After speaking to a friend who's a driver, he said I will take assessments again over two days and then go to the medical, providing I pass my interview on Tuesday?

I'm confused; are there two different assessments. One for depot and one for passenger drivers?
 

SpacePhoenix

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I'm confused; are there two different assessments. One for depot and one for passenger drivers?

I'm not surprised that there is, don't forget when you're driving a passenger train you might have 600-700 people on board (a complete guess at how many passengers could be squeezed into a typical 12-car train)
 

RBSN

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14 Jul 2014
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383
Can anyone confirm that I will re-take assessment (if I get to that stage)? :D
 

JCLeeds

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10 Mar 2013
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Mate, I dont think you will have to retake the assessments. And if you do, you will only retake the ones that you havent yet done (if any). If you did an interview at assessment stage, that is the MMI and is part of the assessments, it has some similarities to the Driver Manager interview but they are different things; for every application if you get far enough you will have a new DMI with each TOC. The MMI result is held on a national database and is viewable by all TOCs so you dont do that again within a certain time frame (depends on the TOC, usually at least 2 years).

The rest of the assessments (dots, phone book, reaction tests, etcha-sketch, grey square etc) are also held on a national database and you dont do them again if passed unless a long time ago and 'expired'.

The only reason you would have to do any more assessments is if there are some that Northern regularly do for passenger drivers that werent part of your previous ones taken and passed for freight - I dont think there are, but cannot be certain. Good luck tomorrow.
 

RBSN

Member
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14 Jul 2014
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Mate, I dont think you will have to retake the assessments. And if you do, you will only retake the ones that you havent yet done (if any). If you did an interview at assessment stage, that is the MMI and is part of the assessments, it has some similarities to the Driver Manager interview but they are different things; for every application if you get far enough you will have a new DMI with each TOC. The MMI result is held on a national database and is viewable by all TOCs so you dont do that again within a certain time frame (depends on the TOC, usually at least 2 years).

The rest of the assessments (dots, phone book, reaction tests, etcha-sketch, grey square etc) are also held on a national database and you dont do them again if passed unless a long time ago and 'expired'.

The only reason you would have to do any more assessments is if there are some that Northern regularly do for passenger drivers that werent part of your previous ones taken and passed for freight - I dont think there are, but cannot be certain. Good luck tomorrow.

Thanks for that buddy!

Best of luck for tomorrow!
 
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