They’re an awful team to deal with. They’ve not even stayed true to their word from when we were let go. I just searched for the email and it reads...”we would like to keep in touch with you so we can make you aware when such vacancies arise and you will be given an early opportunity to apply before we make these vacancies available more widely”. From what I can tell, no early opportunity to apply was given - just an email to say they were recruiting. Luckily, I’ve not needed to apply as I’ve now qualified as a driver elsewhere.
Very glad to hear you’ve successfully got on elsewhere. It’s a great industry in many respects.
It would have been far classier of LNER to reopen it to the previous applicants who successfully jumped through Virgin’s team building, Lego playing, “arrive awesome” hoops. That’s exactly the kind of corporate BS I joined this industry to get away from!
What any of that utter drivel has to do with the job of driving trains is anyone’s guess, as anybody who has spent five seconds actually doing the job will know. 95% of a driver’s working day is spent alone! If anything the loneliness is one of the most difficult aspects of the job, and needs to be better emphasised during the recruitment process.
LNER/VTEC/OLR. It’s just another TOC, at the end of the day.
It might be a different company now but, as with all TOCs, a different brand name above above the door means exactly the same monkeys, eating exactly the same peanuts, wearing different stripes.