• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Db cargo

Status
Not open for further replies.

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
I have a DMI for dB Cargo next week for a trainee driver. Looking on the aslef website it looks like a great place to work, 52k, 32 hour working week, 33 days Annual leave. Assuming they have a pension scheme?

Does anyone have experience of working for them?

the only concern I have is how volatile is the industry. Am I likely to find myself out of work in the near future.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Atishyou

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2012
Messages
485
Location
North West
Pay deal just agreed. Should be just over £53k now possibly plus fuel allowance, depending on the location applied for.

Good variety of work, traction and routes. There's a lot of unknowns about the pension situation at the moment. Any pension is better than none, but the proposals (which haven't been approved) are certainly different to what is available elsewhere in the railway.

Freight has been so volatile for the past few years. There's been lots of positive improvements at DB, but it can still suffer changes in certain markets. Once you're a qualified driver, you can pretty much apply for any driving job, should the worst happen (which, is unlikely, as there's still drivers who would take voluntary redundancy first in most places).
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
Thanks for the info mate. Looks like a good company to work for.

I suppose any job you take runs the risk of being made redundant.
 

Atishyou

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2012
Messages
485
Location
North West
Thanks for the info mate. Looks like a good company to work for.

I suppose any job you take runs the risk of being made redundant.

The amount of redundancies there have been in many sectors over the last 10 years has been astounding! Whether I'm just noticing it more or what, I don't know.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
I think it’s getting worse to be honest. Not a day goes by without seeing on the news businesses going out of business or redundancies.

one more question, in the interview invite and job spec they keep mentioning about a driving licence being essential. Is there much road driving involve? Not that I have an issue with driving I’m just curious.

thanks.
 

Heaps92

Member
Joined
3 Sep 2018
Messages
129
I think it’s getting worse to be honest. Not a day goes by without seeing on the news businesses going out of business or redundancies.

one more question, in the interview invite and job spec they keep mentioning about a driving licence being essential. Is there much road driving involve? Not that I have an issue with driving I’m just curious.

thanks.
You might need to take a van every now and then back from a job or to a job
 

Atishyou

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2012
Messages
485
Location
North West
I think it’s getting worse to be honest. Not a day goes by without seeing on the news businesses going out of business or redundancies.

one more question, in the interview invite and job spec they keep mentioning about a driving licence being essential. Is there much road driving involve? Not that I have an issue with driving I’m just curious.

thanks.

Yeah, it's getting worse isn't it!

No, but you're responsible for making your way to the different booking on points (so, might be worth checking you've got business insurance, as some insurance companies can be a bit funny about that, although it shouldn't cost much extra, if anything at all).

Also, you might be required to drive to another yard, station or relieving point in a works van or car.

Must be full UK Manual licence too.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
Thanks for the info mate. Am I right I’m thinking that recruits for barking go straight to mainline? Or have I heard that wrong
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
Thanks for the advice.

I do have query. I currently work in the emergency services sector. A while back an ex partner of mine made a complaint about me to police (harassment). Following a criminal investigation it was deemed I had no case to answer and the matter was dropped. However, given the nature of my job, a misconduct investigation was then launched. I have not been suspended as a result of any of this And this could take some time to resolve.

1. is this likely to have an adverse Impact on my application?

2. Should I disclose this during or even after the interview. I don’t want to give off the impression that I am dishonest by not disclosing it. However, I don’t want this to have as adverse impact on my application.
 

anglian96

Member
Joined
17 Nov 2018
Messages
158
Thanks for the advice.

I do have query. I currently work in the emergency services sector. A while back an ex partner of mine made a complaint about me to police (harassment). Following a criminal investigation it was deemed I had no case to answer and the matter was dropped. However, given the nature of my job, a misconduct investigation was then launched. I have not been suspended as a result of any of this And this could take some time to resolve.

1. is this likely to have an adverse Impact on my application?

2. Should I disclose this during or even after the interview. I don’t want to give off the impression that I am dishonest by not disclosing it. However, I don’t want this to have as adverse impact on my application.
Wouldn't bother mentioning it to be honest
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
I would prefer not to mention it as I honestly don’t believe I have done anything wrong. However, clearly there is the risk of “resigned under investigation” being brought up on the reference if I were to be successful.
 

Rockhopper

Member
Joined
29 Apr 2019
Messages
736
Have you resigned or do you mean that if you get offered a new job and resign the reference will show you as being under investigation? Perhaps discuss it with your HR department as see if thats what'll happen.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
I have spoken to them and they have stated that any outstanding investigations will likely be stated.

I’m just a bit stuck on how to go about it to be honest.
 

Rockhopper

Member
Joined
29 Apr 2019
Messages
736
Is it worth taking to some legal advice as there is only so much they are allowed to say in references these days.
 

Atishyou

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2012
Messages
485
Location
North West
I have spoken to them and they have stated that any outstanding investigations will likely be stated.

I’m just a bit stuck on how to go about it to be honest.

If it's likely to crop up on a reference, mention it if you get to an interview, unless there's somewhere to put it on the form. If you have a friendly supervisor, who will give you a good reference, ask if they'll mention it, if not, I'd say not to.

If it's likely to come back and bite you in the future, honesty is probably the best policy.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
If it's likely to crop up on a reference, mention it if you get to an interview, unless there's somewhere to put it on the form. If you have a friendly supervisor, who will give you a good reference, ask if they'll mention it, if not, I'd say not to.

If it's likely to come back and bite you in the future, honesty is probably the best policy.

that is what I was thinking. Do you think realistically it will result in my application being withdrawn?

my dmi is next week. I could either mention it in the interview or wait until I get an offer and mention it before references are taken.
 

Stigy

Established Member
Joined
6 Nov 2009
Messages
4,879
You usually have to disclose any investigations at work with most companies I’ve found.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
Spoke to hr today who confirmed it will be on the reference. Seriously doubting if there’s any point to attending the interview, why would they take me on when there’s other candidates that won’t have that on there reference.
 

GB

Established Member
Joined
16 Nov 2008
Messages
6,457
Location
Somewhere
If you don't go there is zero chance of you getting the job. At least if you do go there is some kind of chance.
That's very poor of your employer to add that imo.
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
If you don't go there is zero chance of you getting the job. At least if you do go there is some kind of chance.
That's very poor of your employer to add that imo.

Exactly, especially when I have not been found guilty of anything and I am innocent. Unfortunately this is what the police service do, investigate someone for years only to find no case to answer in the end.

unfortunately I’m sure the FOC won’t be interested in my tale of woe and I can’t say I blame them.
 

Stigy

Established Member
Joined
6 Nov 2009
Messages
4,879
If you haven’t been asked at the application to declare anything I wouldn’t worry too much (this is what I was referring to in my last post). As far as I’m aware for the benefit of references, employers aren’t allowed to simply mention such things generally? (Unless you’re going to another job which requires it specifically such as the Police etc.) References are usually very basic in terms of detail. For the benefit of references, the prospective employer usually supplies a very basic tick sheet. It obviously differs from vetting procedures etc, where the whole aim is to dig very deep, naturally unearthing some of these things.

At the end of the day, as @GB has said, if you don’t progress your application you definitely won’t get the job. There’s hope however if you do continue. I understand it’ll be frustrating if this does bite you later on in the process, but surely it’s a risk worth taking? The fact that you have not been suspended, or presumably been placed on restrictive duties? Suggests this isn’t a massively serious matter. If you haven’t been asked to disclose this stuff, I advise against it.
 
Last edited:

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
If you haven’t been asked at the application to declare anything I wouldn’t worry too much (this is what I was referring to in my last post). As far as I’m aware for the benefit of references, employers aren’t allowed to simply mention such things generally? (Unless you’re going to another job which requires it specifically such as the Police etc.) References are usually very basic in terms of detail. For the benefit of references, the prospective employer usually supplies a very basic tick sheet. It obviously differs from vetting procedures etc, where the whole aim is to dig very deep, naturally unearthing some of these things.

At the end of the day, as @GB has said, if you don’t progress your application you definitely won’t get the job. There’s hope however if you do continue. I understand it’ll be frustrating if this does bite you later on in the process, but surely it’s a risk worth taking? The fact that you have not been suspended, or presumably been placed on restrictive duties? Suggests this isn’t a massively serious matter. If you haven’t been asked to disclose this stuff, I advise against it.

Thanks for your advice.

From what I understand, the man from hr said the police send a standard proforma stating “he worked between these dates as a police officer, no formal findings of gross misconduct, however the officer is under investigation for a gross misconduct matter.

I have never been suspended, my only restriction is not to investigate domestic criminal matters until the case is concluded. Given I currently work as a school police officer this really has no bearing on my day to day responsibilities. However, a large portion of my work involves working with vulnerable children which should suggest I am trusted to do this.

I am just curious from people here how the railway would view this, particularly when the jobs are in very high demand. I have worked hard to get to this stage so would be gutted to lose it over a malicious complaint. If I’m not good enough then fine I can live with that.
 

Stigy

Established Member
Joined
6 Nov 2009
Messages
4,879
Thanks for your advice.

From what I understand, the man from hr said the police send a standard proforma stating “he worked between these dates as a police officer, no formal findings of gross misconduct, however the officer is under investigation for a gross misconduct matter.

I have never been suspended, my only restriction is not to investigate domestic criminal matters until the case is concluded. Given I currently work as a school police officer this really has no bearing on my day to day responsibilities. However, a large portion of my work involves working with vulnerable children which should suggest I am trusted to do this.

I am just curious from people here how the railway would view this, particularly when the jobs are in very high demand. I have worked hard to get to this stage so would be gutted to lose it over a malicious complaint. If I’m not good enough then fine I can live with that.
Railway recruitment is painfully slow anyway (even if it apparently moves rather quickly, there’s often a long period between DMI and waiting a result), so as and when you need to obtain references, the matter may be concluded? At this stage, I’d continue with the process and cross that bridge if and when you come to it. If there’s not a requirement to give details of referees at this stage (even if you were required to, most prospective employers will either not approach them, or ask if you’re happy for them to approach them before an offer is made....for obvious reasons).
 

Sammy2019

Member
Joined
22 Sep 2019
Messages
139
Location
Essex
Railway recruitment is painfully slow anyway (even if it apparently moves rather quickly, there’s often a long period between DMI and waiting a result), so as and when you need to obtain references, the matter may be concluded? At this stage, I’d continue with the process and cross that bridge if and when you come to it. If there’s not a requirement to give details of referees at this stage (even if you were required to, most prospective employers will either not approach them, or ask if you’re happy for them to approach them before an offer is made....for obvious reasons).

Good point, although Not as painfully slow as the police internal investigations. My mate was under investigation for nearly 2 and a half years only to be cleared of any wrongdoing at a formal hearing.

i would ideally prefer to bring it up further down the line. Just feel it would sound better and more honest if it was discussed at the interview.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top