Aspiring Train Driver aged 17

Hi all,

I'm 17 and at college in Maidenhead and I aspire to be a train driver with Great Western Railway (Former FGW) to drive the Class 800 and 801's once they enter service provided I am the right age to do so, I know you have to be 21. I was wondering what is the best way to get into this industry with Great Western Railway? I do already have two weeks work experience at Reading Station doing everything from ticket barriers to customer services on the platform. I was thinking about doing an apprenticeship with GWR, the operations one that starts next year, it's based in my home town anyway which is superb. But I don't know whether to do that or just get straight into a job at the station? ANy help would be grately appreciated, thank you.

Try and get a safety critical role and a job that follows rules and procedures. Can be internal (gaurd) or external (police or special police) for example.
Make sure you build up plenty of experience in these jobs first. When I say plenty, consider joining as a driver in your mid 20's to 30 so you have some substance about you. It's possible to join at 21 as you say. However you can't start many safety critical jobs until your 18. So you want to build up a suitable portfolio of being responsable, evidence to follow rules/procedures and in a safety conscious role. In my opinion this takes several to many years to do.
Apply, go through the assessment stages. If you jump the hoops and your in. Drive around LTV region based from Paddington for a few years. (After you qualify) you can put your name on a list to join HSS. Voila, several years later you'll driving the 800/801.

Having been in the same boat as you many years ago I'll try and give some advice.
GWR don't often recruit for drivers off the street, however they do tend to take on platform staff and guards etc off the street. You're not likely to get a look in till you're 18, however something else I would advise is having some kind of customer service experience - I worked in a popular chain of restaurants for a few years whilst I was in college.
I too hoped to get a guards job at 18 and fall straight into a drivers job at 21... it didn't work unfortunately for me but I do know people who it has.
Anyway, some years on i'm now a qualified driver with a well known freight company.
I started as platform staff with a local TOC and experienced a few different front line roles and trained staff up, however despite applying for guards and drivers jobs I didn't manage to get on with them. Eventually growing fed up of feeling stuck in a rut I applied for a drivers job with a FOC, invited up for the assessments which were duly passed and then invited to a managers interview which unfortunately I did not pass.
I then applied for a shunters job with my current FOC, who having found out I passed the drivers assessments put me forward for the drivers course and at the age of 25 I qualified as a driver (still one of the youngest in my company at the time)
The most important thing is to not let anything push you back!
As above probably the most likely way to get into driving HSS trains is start on frontline, use that to apply for a guards job perhaps via the internal vacancy list and given a few years experience use that to apply for a drivers job on the local LTV services before progressing to the HSS side of the company.

One of the only GWR depots that recruit for HSS trainees is Swansea as they have no local link - and I've only seen it advertised once in the last five years and wouldn't be surprised if they all went internal as a few months after the advert, they advertised for TMs at Swansea and Cardiff.

Thank you everyone so far, I will most likely go for the apprenticeship but would prefer to find out more information first about where to go once I have completed it with GWR. Also am looking at getting a standard job on the front line at a station once I hit 18 next year, but I do not know which is the best option considering what I would like to achieve. I may need to train with a TOC elsewhere and return to GWR once fully qualified if they don't recruit driver trainees for the Class 800/801 anyway, although I would much prefer it if they did.

Many people want to drive trains, a lot of people never get the opportunity. You have been given some sound advice by HSTFan I echo everything said there. I would also advice you to not be picky when it comes to driving. If other TOCs in your area are advertising dont't want on great western. It will be much easier for you to get a role as a qualified driver than as a trainee driver.

I wouldn't make the assumption that you will be selected for an apprenticeship or a front line customer service role, although if you impress during your work experience this could give you an edge.

Do you currently any work experience?

If not I would consider volunteer work or getting a part time job as a lot of interviews are example based whereby they will ask you provide examples of things such as customer service/problem solving/conflict resoloution/dealing with pressure etc

There is a huge difference in wanting to drive trains and wanting to be a train driver, make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for as the job isn't all it is made out to be.

I'm curious, why those specific trains?

My advice? Forget the railway for a while.

Go out and get a part time job, get some experience, continue with education, get a degree and get a skill specific job.

If you still want to go on the Railway after that, then apply.

I put off University to join the Fire Brigade at 18, did that for two years (experienced more doing that than anything else). Got told there was no future in that job so applied for the railway.

Train driver offer at 20.

The Railway actively employs from the forces and services. Bear that in mind.

I also don't believe you'll learn much during the Apprenticeship.

Another way in is to join First as a Bus Driver (like I did) - this is not only a reasonably well paid job (compared to working in KFC etc!) - but will also give you relevant experience in the safety and customer service requirements of the role, form filling and accident reporting as well as following strict rules and procedures. You will need to prove you have experience of doing these, not just that you can talk about them.

The reason I say join First Bus is that this opens you for internal vacancies within First Group, and although not a guarantee of acceptance does make it slightly easier.

I joined First Group as a bus driver 4 years ago. I passed my final psychometric tests and managers interview in March and have been on a talent pool ever since awaiting a vacancy - for this reason don't think the application process is quick because it most certainly is not - but this is a job i really want so I am prepared to wait for it.

Im sure I don't need to say this, but make sure your attendance and punctuality is up to scratch too - no good joining then being late all the time or phoning in sick at the end of every month! You attendance doesn't need to be 100% perfect as it is accepted that people do get ill, but it does need to be very good as First will not want train drivers who have proven themselves to be unreliable.

You could also join another bus company, however this would not open you up for internal vacancies so you would have to rely on external vacancy advertisements which are very few and far between

leomartin125 said:

Thank you everyone so far, I will most likely go for the apprenticeship but would prefer to find out more information first about where to go once I have completed it with GWR. Also am looking at getting a standard job on the front line at a station once I hit 18 next year, but I do not know which is the best option considering what I would like to achieve

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I began as a volunteer aged 15 to gain Customer Service experience along with many transferable skills, and it certainly opened plenty of doors. Now, I too am 17, and have recently been awarded a job - which I'll begin once I turn 18. Try and get in wherever you can - it shows you're keen! Even a small amount of knowledge makes you stand-out. Best of luck

Thank you for everyone's help so far, I'm so glad so many have helped me out here. Although I'm still indecisive in whether to go straight into a platform job or a job around the station or whether to still go for the operations apprenticeship. I'm trying to find out more information about GWR's Apprenticeship scheme for 2016 but nobody at GWR is being much help, so I'm kind of looking at joining the company working at the station for now until I can possibly find out any more information. I have two weeks work experience and the station manager at the station I would work at does know me personally too, which is a great help.

If you definitely want to enter the workplace now, then I like your thinking. The apprenticeship sounds like the best plan. Get the maximum exposure to the widest range of types of work. Does it lead to any 18+ type qualifications, as these may be a prerequisite for roles in later life?
Don't fixate on one particular company, or especially on driving one type of train though. You'll probably have to be flexible to get where you want to end up. For driving, don't think too much about 21 either. Yes we all know someone who's managed it, but the majority of trainees are somewhat older.

I wouldn't assume you'll walk in to a platform job or even an apprenticeship when you turn 18 either - I'm but months off being 22 and have only just been offered an Ops Apprenticeship. Best of luck, but don't put all your eggs in the railway basket. As others have said, go out, get some life experience, and keep applying.

Part of why I was offered the job over the other candidates was I had heritage experience, so if you have a heritage railway near you, go along and volunteer! Doesn't have to be in any particular department, although I'd say a ticket selling role (in office or on train) amongst others would help with customer service experience, but I'm loco dept and have gotten an Ops dept job. I just showed I was genuinely interested and had shown some level of dedication to a railway career over the past few years (although I volunteer for the love, not to career advance)

I know a couple of people who went through apprenticeships with First (both FGW and other franchises) and they seem to have found it worthwhile. Two left the process early after getting permanent positions on ticket gates, while another got an engineering role and is currently going through the driver recruitment process. All are in their early-mid 20s.

If you can have a look at the London Underground apprenticeship, if you don't mind locating that is. Consider any LU role after 6 months probation you could drive from 18 rather then 21 on the mainline.