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Freightliner Train Driver Jobs

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Class323201

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Freightliner are advertising for qualified drivers at various locations. Looks like they need quite a few drivers. Do you think they will advertise for trainee drivers if they struggle to fill the vacancies? Looks like they have been advertising for quite a few weeks now.
 
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baz962

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Freightliner are advertising for qualified drivers at various locations. Looks like they need quite a few drivers. Do you think they will advertise for trainee drivers if they struggle to fill the vacancies? Looks like they have been advertising for quite a few weeks now.

Hopefully lol
 
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Freightliner are advertising for qualified drivers at various locations. Looks like they need quite a few drivers. Do you think they will advertise for trainee drivers if they struggle to fill the vacancies? Looks like they have been advertising for quite a few weeks now.

I wouldn't hold your breath. Someone i spoke to the other day said that they have passenger drivers coming across to fill alot of these roles! I find this quite surprizing as heavy haul is far less job secure than passenger and is alot of nights and weekends and pretty much mid-ranking pay.

The last trainee scheme they advertised for was 2014 i think which was then pulled anyway due to the coal collapse.
 

Class323201

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I wouldn't hold your breath. Someone i spoke to the other day said that they have passenger drivers coming across to fill alot of these roles! I find this quite surprizing as heavy haul is far less job secure than passenger and is alot of nights and weekends and pretty much mid-ranking pay.

The last trainee scheme they advertised for was 2014 i think which was then pulled anyway due to the coal collapse.


I have seen quite a few drivers come from freight to passenger because of the night working and pay. So I'm quite surprised drivers are heading back to freight. Makes an interesting read and thanks for your reply.
 

Tom9748

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Say goodbye to your family as you will never see them and a social life is non existent. Long turns generally during the night and constant weekend work. I managed eight years with them before I bailed out.
I speak as a ex Heavy Haul driver,as for Intermodal I couldn't comment.
 
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FrankOwen

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What's the arrangement regarding overtime since they did away with the happy cheque?
Is it all paid at 1 x hourly rate monthly or is it time off yearly hours to begin with?
 

class 9

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What's the arrangement regarding overtime since they did away with the happy cheque?
Is it all paid at 1 x hourly rate monthly or is it time off yearly hours to begin with?

'happy cheques' are still there, as you are on an annualised hours contract, this is the payment you get after 52 weeks if you have gone over your hours. The only thing that is payed 4 weekly are Rest days, this is HH. IM have a fixed roster, as near as you get in Freight,to a TOC roster, all O/T, RDs etc payed 4weekly.
 

Crazyb

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Overtime is paid at a basic rate. If you are a Intermodal driver and work a HH job, you get paid the going rate of a HH driver, but you would take their conditions for that day.

It's not all good on Freightliner at the moment, but unfortunately it's not for me to comment on that .

Freightliner was once a good company to work for, but even the trainees that have passed out as drivers are leaving after a few years.

If you're going to work for Freightliner, Intermodal is the best option.

At the moment Freightliner are losing guys quite quick, some are moving to TOC's and quite a few are retiring early because they have had enough of management. Quite a sad case really.

I have also heard that they are taking on a new trainee course, not sure if this year or how many.

I started at Freightliner from the start in 1996/7, and left not long ago. I enjoyed working for them until the last fews years when the Americans took over, and HH management started coming over to Intermodal.

I wouldn't put people off, but be careful what you wish for !!!
 
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class 9

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I echo what crazy said, even though it's 2 companies(supposedly)the management has merged into one, and quite frankly it's a mess.
If you a TOC driver (i.e. A secure job) I would think long and hard about making the move, the grass is definitely not greener.... no pun intended.
 
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I echo what crazy said, even though it's 2 companies(supposedly)the management has merged into one, and quite frankly it's a mess.
If you a TOC driver (i.e. A secure job) I would think long and hard about making the move, the grass is definitely not greener.... no pun intended.

Is freight driving still considered not a secure job? There was a huge number of redundancies over the last few years with the loss of the coal trade but all i see now is FOCs advertising for qualified drivers. Will things not settle down now?
 

142094

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How many depots are actually hitting their annualised hours at the minute?
 

class 9

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I think there are still some in the north that are still coming under hours, but I don't whether it's a majority or minority, don't at all about the south.
 

142094

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Difficult to find out which depots are nearing their annual hours with any FOC at the minute, to see which ones have 'safer' jobs so to speak. London and the south always seems to be the best bet compared to any northern depot.
 

Crazyb

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Is freight driving still considered not a secure job? There was a huge number of redundancies over the last few years with the loss of the coal trade but all i see now is FOCs advertising for qualified drivers. Will things not settle down now?

The reason there are jobs, is that so many have left the industry to move to a TOC, you also get contracts that move from company to company.

In my experience, if you're at a TOC, you need your head testing if you want to move to a FOC.

I'm now at a TOC and I will be totally honest, "the work is ****" but most jobs start around 7am, my last job finishes at around 00:15 and I only have a few night turns.

I get looked after in some sense. We have nice mess rooms, lovely recliner chairs, free tea and coffee....A much better pension, and they also kept my Brass pension matched !!!!

Not like Freightliner, that piggyback off of other people mess rooms, and then made to feel like lepers from the other companies drivers.

Freightliners own mess rooms are rubbish, we even had to pay for our own TV and license !!!! and also made to sit in a **** tip at Wembley.

Anyway less of the moaning !!!!, but on the other hand, Intermodal driving was good. I covered loads of distance, I went to different places and every day was a different job.

I enjoyed poodling around, looking into people's windows (I'm not a pervert by the way) with no care in the world, not like now..... driving around on a high speed milk float at 150mph everywhere.

If you want some sort of security, Intermodal where I was is the best option.

What you have to remember, contracts only last around 5 years, maybe less but not to sure, I was never at a company like GB or HH.

If say Tarmac does not like the way a FOC operates, or price hikes they will move. It's a big vicious circle and at the end of the day, you could be TUPE'd, asked to move to another part of the country or just binned.

With what's happening to DBC with conditions, I could also see other TOC's looking at this and try and implement these over the next coming years, and then blame the change on climate !!!!

Freight will always be around, but as a driver, there could be uncertainty when you will be in years to come.

I've seen many changes over the years, Including freight under British Rail....All I say, is to be careful of your choice. You could be doing yourself out of a job 10 years down the line. Also don't think if you do get made redundant, that you could walk back into your old job.

I left on my own accord, because I had enough, but I was lucky I new the boss in the company I'm now at !!!

Best of luck for anyone who wants to become a FOC driver.
 
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Tester1

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Hi class 9!

I was wondering if you could help me!
I’ve got a interview to become a trainee driver for freightliner, however as you probably know, the conditions, pay, roster turns, Christmas working are all very vague!
I am undecided to go for intermodal or HH.
I currently work on the railway as a testing engineer so I know how the system works, and wouldn’t want to leave a good job for a shot in the dark!!
I’ve spoken to many drivers and got conflicting info from all of them!
Just some honest truth about the job would be great!

Thanks
 
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class 9

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Hi Mr Tester,
Having worked for both sides of Freightliner, I found HH more interesting with more varied work, but it’s extremely volatile, both in terms of actual work and the shift patterns.
IM, is better as you have a fixed roster that only changes occasionally and you get most weekends off, that said it’s near the bottom of the pay league table, but it’s still a good wage.
 

Tester1

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4F89

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For HH it's 19 in the classroom, 24 after and 51 when qualified
 
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IM is 0-11 weeks 20k, 11-33 weeks 26.5k, 33-72 weeks 40k and then 48k with clocking on fee as well. If I remember right. Timetabled work with 13 weeks rota and average of 1 weekend in 6 apparently.
 
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