Any Ex firefighters on here?

[Balloonthief]

Hi All,
I'm looking for any ex firefighters now working as drivers to give me an idea of what the shifts are like.
I've been a firefighter 13 years, just been made up to watch commander,
I've been going through the Scotrail tests and although I do really fancy the change the thing that is holding me back is the shifts.
How do you find the changing start/finish times in comparison to the 2/2/4?
I currently work 2 x10 hour day shifts (0800- 1800) 24h off then 2 x 14 hour night shifts followed by 96 hours off.
Do this 7 times and then get 18 days off. This is fixed annual leave and is very difficult to change.
I now have a young family and I was hoping the railway would allow me more time with family but after reading the posts on here I'm now not sure.
Watch commander pay is just under £40k, not great but not bad either.
I wouldn't be changing job for the money, more the change in industry.

 

[scotraildriver]

Your shift pattern at Scotrail (rural depots excepted) is as follows:

Week 1 Early shift days off Mon/Tue
Week 2 Late shift days off Wed/Thu
Week 3 early days off Fri/Sat/Sun
Week 4 late days off Mon/Tue and so on. So a 5 day long weekend every 3 weeks.

You also have up to 1 in 3 rostered Sundays paid as overtime.
5 weeks annual leave fixed but you can mutually exchange with someone else if you need school holidays etc.
Changing from late Saturday to early Monday is the hardest part and there will be a few nightshift weeks in the mix.

Hope that helps. We have a few ex firefighters here and none of them would go back.

 

[Balloonthief]

Your shift pattern at Scotrail (rural depots excepted) is as follows:

Week 1 Early shift days off Mon/Tue
Week 2 Late shift days off Wed/Thu
Week 3 early days off Fri/Sat/Sun
Week 4 late days off Mon/Tue and so on. So a 5 day long weekend every 3 weeks.

You also have up to 1 in 3 rostered Sundays paid as overtime.
5 weeks annual leave fixed but you can mutually exchange with someone else if you need school holidays etc.
Changing from late Saturday to early Monday is the hardest part and there will be a few nightshift weeks in the mix.

Hope that helps. We have a few ex firefighters here and none of them would go back.

Thanks very much for that Scotraildriver.
Would you be able to give an example of a typical 3 week cycle (variety are the start times)?

How easy is it to change shifts?
Do you know anyone who only works early/late shifts?

Many thanks

 

[scotraildriver]

You generally work a different shift each day to prevent incidents caused by repetition. At my depot the earliest early shift starts at 3.45am and the latest early start is 10.15am. The earliest late shift starts at 12 and the latest start is 16.40. You will be doing a mix of those and everything inbetween. You are free to mutually swap shifts at any time and plenty of people do a permanent swap, doing all earlies or all lates and the roster clerks facilitate this for you. However there are always more folk wanting earlies than than lates so you would need to find someone willing to swap to suit you.

 

[Balloonthief]

Many thanks for your reply Scotraildriver.
All very helpful.

 

[Ladder23]

Ex firefighter here, good luck with your career should you change, I don't think you'll regret it, I don't!

 

[2192]

It looks as though the biggest change would be from a job where early shifts always start at the same time, to one where (for instance) early shift might start at 0300 one day and 0525 another, and some other time on the third....

 

[Comfy]

Unless you are at a very busy station i'd say the shifts are a lot worse on the railway. You will be more tired from them. Yet firefighters are leaving or trying to leave in their droves to join the railway. It probably comes down to whether you are unhappy there and whether the extra money to spend on doing and going to different places is worth it.

 

[Fat Gaz]

Hi All,
I'm looking for any ex firefighters now working as drivers to give me an idea of what the shifts are like.
I've been a firefighter 13 years, just been made up to watch commander,
I've been going through the Scotrail tests and although I do really fancy the change the thing that is holding me back is the shifts.
How do you find the changing start/finish times in comparison to the 2/2/4?
I currently work 2 x10 hour day shifts (0800- 1800) 24h off then 2 x 14 hour night shifts followed by 96 hours off.
Do this 7 times and then get 18 days off. This is fixed annual leave and is very difficult to change.
I now have a young family and I was hoping the railway would allow me more time with family but after reading the posts on here I'm now not sure.
Watch commander pay is just under £40k, not great but not bad either.
I wouldn't be changing job for the money, more the change in industry.

Ex fire fighter here. I did 26 1/2 and finshed as WM (WC) before jumping ship and haven't regretted it so far. Yes, the shifts are different. I'm with a TOC that has very good T&Cs so I have night shifts where I am with 5am starts on earlies. To be honest, after the shifts in the fire it feels like I'm always at work. As a firey I never worked more than 4 days a week. On the railways I will often do 4, 5, 6 and 7 days on the bounce. that said, my longest diagram is 10 hours but the majority are 7,8 & 9 hours. At my TOC we have long weekends and grouped rest days of 5 days off quite regularly in the roster to balance the work out.

Being honest, the young family won't be young for long and the shifts aren't bad at all once you're used to them. I would say if your S.O. works (and intends to keep working) have a closer look at the rosters and shifts. I'm not at your TOC so I can't give you a direct answer but if my kids were younger, working on the railways would allow me to see them and do the things that families do. Albeit with me being a bit more tired than I would want to be. Going to bed before the kids will probably be the strangest thing you would do when you're on earlies.

OT, despite being from 'Darn sarf' I did my BAI at Gullane, did you do your basic there or had it closed by then?

Having jumped over I'm not looking back. I feel blessed to have had two careers that most would love to have had one of. If you get the chance, do it!

 

[Jordmurray23]

Serving lfb firefighter here. Considering the change to the trains. Love the job as a firefighter but the money sucks. Done 8 years. With fires declining, we attend probably around 2 or 3 big fires a year. Most of the other incidents are alarms sounding which turn out to be nothing. My station is particularly busy with about 9 calls a day. Any advice on how firefighters who have taken the plunge would be welcome . Was it worth it?
Thanks

 

[scorchio]

I was a FF for 19 years, spent four of those as a WM, became a driver 7 years ago, don't regret one minute.

 

[Joliver]

Ex FF too. Jumped ship nearly four years ago after 19 years in the service. No regrets whatsoever. Wish I'd done it sooner. Lots of ex colleagues/friends have joined the railway too. In fact, the Watch I finished on, all the FF's have left to join the railway as drivers. I'd highly recommend the change.

 

[nc12345]

Hi All,
I'm looking for any ex firefighters now working as drivers to give me an idea of what the shifts are like.
I've been a firefighter 13 years, just been made up to watch commander,
I've been going through the Scotrail tests and although I do really fancy the change the thing that is holding me back is the shifts.
How do you find the changing start/finish times in comparison to the 2/2/4?
I currently work 2 x10 hour day shifts (0800- 1800) 24h off then 2 x 14 hour night shifts followed by 96 hours off.
Do this 7 times and then get 18 days off. This is fixed annual leave and is very difficult to change.
I now have a young family and I was hoping the railway would allow me more time with family but after reading the posts on here I'm now not sure.
Watch commander pay is just under £40k, not great but not bad either.
I wouldn't be changing job for the money, more the change in industry.

I’m ex brigade mate ask away

 

[Jordmurray23]

Any ex lfb here ?

 

[nc12345]

Any ex lfb here ?

Yes mate

 

[Jordmurray23]

Nice. What station where you at? How long ago did you leave and how long had you done? What were your main reasons for leaving.
Cheers mate

 

[Owen83]

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this post.

As the title suggests, I am a fire fighter seeking a career change to that of a train driver. I am midlands based and hoping to progress and be successful with EMR.

Formerly I was a crane operator on wind turbine erection projects, and prior to that, armed forces.

If any one out there can help, advise, or sign post me in the right direction that would be fantastic.

Are there any ex-firies on this forum who have made the transition already?

Thanks in advance as I await your replies.

Cheers

 

[OldSwan16]

Ex firefighter here, good luck with your career should you change, I don't think you'll regret it, I don't!

Can I ask what happened with your pension…? We’re you able to take it with you…?

 

[J320]

Can I ask what happened with your pension…? We’re you able to take it with you…?

Hi, the 92 scheme would be deferred. I think you could collect it at 60?

 

[Whacker]

Hi, the 92 scheme would be deferred. I think you could collect it at 60?

Can you take the new scheme with you…?

 

[J320]

Can you take the new scheme with you…?

I'm not sure about the 2015 scheme. That has a retirement age of 60, could you collect it then or 67?

 

[BlackpoolL30P1]

I’m ex brigade mate ask away

As current fire service and part way through rail recruitment, do you miss the watch culture much? The meals together, gym and turn outs?
Regarding time off, how does drivers time compare with 2-2-4?

 

[whoosh]

@Balloonthief

Have a look here for a rough idea of a driver's shift pattern.

Southern rail

I am interested in becoming a train driver and wonder if anyone has any idea what southern rail is like to work for as a trainee driver? I am also wondering what the shift pattern is (what times start and finish & how many weekends etc.)

www.railforums.co.uk

The link is to a post of mine about Southern, but they have the same rest day pattern as most of Scotrail (only far out places like Mallaig, Fort William, Oban, Kyle of Lochalsh, and Wick have a different pattern).

As I said, the post is about Southern and mentions a rate of pay for Sundays. I don't know what Scotrail's Sunday rate is, so it might not be the same.

It will give you an idea though, and you can see the 'spare' shifts where you can be allocated an uncovered duty and be moved around with your start time.


There's quite a few ex-firefighters where I work. They all prefer what they do now, and the higher pay is just a bonus. 22 years and 19 years service for the fire brigade, were the two longest serving. The one who did 19 years was a Watch Commander and is now a Driver Instructor.
In fact there's recently been some more internal recruitment for Driver Instructors, and more than one of the appointments used to be a Firefighter.


Edit:
@OldSwan16 @Whacker
Some sections (there's different sections for all the TOC's) of the Railway Pension Scheme accept transfers in from other pension schemes, but some don't, so it would depend on the rules for the section of the scheme you'd be joining.

 

[nc12345]

As current fire service and part way through rail recruitment, do you miss the watch culture much? The meals together, gym and turn outs?
Regarding time off, how does drivers time compare with 2-2-4?

Mate I’m not going to lie I miss the brigade terribly. Train driving is pretty lonely the early to late shifts take there toll. The time off isn’t great.
Now the plus side I don’t worry about my bills anymore. For the first time in my life I have a decent car season tickets at my club a golf membership and 2 holidays a year so you have to weigh it up.
Plus no more floods or afas at 3am

 

[Treas]

Don’t forget the increased cancer/stroke/heart attack as a FF. Will see a lot of fire jump over now they have both the pay and the health benefits in their mind.

 

[nc12345]

Don’t forget the increased cancer/stroke/heart attack as a FF. Will see a lot of fire jump over now they have both the pay and the health benefits in their mind.

The deciding factor for me was when they upped the retirement age from 50 to 60 and it was a worry being laid of under capabilities if my back went mid fifties
Good luck with everything

 

[BlackpoolL30P1]

Mate I’m not going to lie I miss the brigade terribly. Train driving is pretty lonely the early to late shifts take there toll. The time off isn’t great.
Now the plus side I don’t worry about my bills anymore. For the first time in my life I have a decent car season tickets at my club a golf membership and 2 holidays a year so you have to weigh it up.
Plus no more floods or afas at 3am

Appreciate you getting back on this. Time off is probably the biggest hurdle for myself, enjoy the days off you get with 2-2-4. Very conscious of the health side of things these days as more colleagues seem to be hit with cancer etc.
Will see how far I get with these tests, may hit you up again for more advice regarding quality of life stuff if you don't mind.

 

[Owen83]

Hi everyone, I'm about to sit my first DMI having passed all psychometrics.
Can anyone who's been successful please advise on what to expect?

Cheers in advance.