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Northern Trainee Drivers - Newcastle & Darlington (25/03/21)

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PaulN

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Northern are advertising for trainee drivers for Newcastle & Darlington - just on today (25/03/21) see link below - best of luck :)

Location Darlington


Driver Apprenticeship
Grade:
Driver
Salary: £23,576 - £54,500 per annum

About the Role:

Our 2 year Driver Training Apprenticeship Programme comes with a permanent role and an opportunity to play your part in our brand-new future

At Northern, we’re creating a brand-new future. Not just for our organisation, but one that will transform the way we all think about rail travel. And if you’re smart, forward thinking, passionate and full of fresh ideas like we are, you could play your part in making it happen.

We recently launched our £500m fleet of new, state-of-the-art trains and we’re investing millions more in our existing fleet of trains and on station improvements. All so we can continue to connect thousands of people across the North to work, leisure, education and more every day. Our vision is all about taking them in an exciting new direction, delivering a different kind of travel experience, and introducing new ways of working.

We’re not just building a brand-new future for rail travel. We’re building a business that’s as diverse and inclusive as the communities we serve.

Here, we put people first. We challenge the way we think, and the way we do things. We encourage everyone to work together. And we strive to create the kind of working environment where you can be you - whoever you are, whatever your background.

About You:
This is Northern, and we think you’ll fit right in here.

As part of our team of highly skilled Train Drivers you’ll be the face of Northern. It’s about working on the frontline as part of our onboard team and alongside station dispatch and control colleagues to meet performance targets, stick to timetables, and make sure customers enjoy a true Northern experience as they arrive safely at their destinations.

You don’t need previous driving experience as our Apprenticeship Programme offers full Driver Training. You’ll spend your first 16 weeks taking part in classroom based learning in either Leeds or Manchester, followed by a minimum of 2 years training in our depot with our full support as you develop your skills.

We’ll expect 100% commitment from you on this rewarding yet demanding programme, but our Training Team will be with you all the way when it comes to ongoing assessments and knowledge checks.

What’s really important is an ability to stay calm and to think on your feet in sometimes challenging situations. And because you’ll need to work a range of shifts, from the early hours of the mornings until late at night, plus weekends and Bank Holidays, it’s vital that you’re flexible and that you live within 45 minutes drive of our depot. And don’t forget that our selection process includes safety critical medical assessments that cover general health, vision, hearing, colour vision and drugs and alcohol testing.

In return, you’ll discover brilliant opportunities to grow and progress to management roles in the future. Not to mention amazing perks and benefits like free or discounted travel, employee assistance, generous policies, regular pay reviews and a great pension.

The selection process:

Please apply online, answering all questions fully to demonstrate your suitability to the role. Applications received will be shortlisted, and successful candidates will be invited to an interview with Northern. If you meet the standard we’re looking for, you will then be invited to attend a Driver Psychometric Assessment (usually in Doncaster or Manchester). The final stages would include a safety critical medical (covering assessments of general health, vision, hearing, colour vision and drugs and alcohol testing).

Important: Northern reserves the right to close the advert before the published closing date, if high volumes of applications are received. In this situation partially completed applications will not be progressed forward or given extra time to complete
 
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Choooochoooo

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£23,576 is the stated starting salary. can anyone tell me and others what the pay increments are on the driver apprenticeship up to the point where you go onto full salary
 

Driver068

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£23,576 During training, once Qualified then up to £40,738 for your 1st year. Then you recieve another pay increase after 12 months to £44,952 then after a further 12 months full pay onto £54,500. The annual pay increases are when you have passes your rules which are sat annually for the first 2 years after Qualified.
 

LeeMck9

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£23,576 During training, once Qualified then up to £40,738 for your 1st year. Then you recieve another pay increase after 12 months to £44,952 then after a further 12 months full pay onto £54,500. The annual pay increases are when you have passes your rules which are sat annually for the first 2 years after Qualified.
Does that mean 23k for 2 years?
 

Driver068

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No, you will generally do 16 weeks in class room then assigned to your home depot where you will do your allocated hours with your Minder. Once complete you will do your final addessments with DTM. This will take just under 12 months - Once complete then you will recieve your first pay rise.

For the next 2 years you will conduct your rules annually, each time completed then another pay rise.
 
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LeeMck9

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No, you will generally do 16 weeks in class room then assigned to your home depot where you will do your allocated hours with your Minder. Once complete you will do your final addessments with DTM. This will take just under 12 months - Once complete then you will recieve a pay rise.

For the next 2 years you will conduct your rules annually, each time completed then another pay rise.
Thank you
 

mechanic2

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Out of curiosity, if successful at Newcastle, what are your typical working days looking like. I'm just wondering where Newcastle based drivers often travel to and on which routes etc.

Thanks !
 

DriverEight

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As far as I know, it's the Durham Coast line to Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, the ECML down to Darlington and north to Morpeth and Chathill and the Tyne Valley line to Carlisle
 

Driver068

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As far as I know, it's the Durham Coast line to Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, the ECML down to Darlington and north to Morpeth and Chathill and the Tyne Valley
Just so your aware there is a heading stating Driver depots at the top of the railway jobs and careers page which gives you all the information you need. Scroll down to Nothern and there is information for both Newcastle and Darlington respectively.
To add to the above post Newcastle depot has 2 links they sign all routes as mentioned but A link only sign Chathill/Belford where B link sign Bishop Auckland.
 

mechanic2

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Just so your aware there is a heading stating Driver depots at the top of the railway jobs and careers page which gives you all the information you need. Scroll down to Nothern and there is information for both Newcastle and Darlington respectively.
To add to the above post Newcastle depot has 2 links they sign all routes as mentioned but A link only sign Chathill/Belford where B link sign Bishop Auckland.
Ah great - thanks for that! I'll have a look.

I don't mean to sound money hungry, I'm just curious as this is a career change for me and I am working out/planning finances etc.

Approximately how long would you estimate to be earning the £23k? Is this roughly the 10 months? After this it would rise to somewhere around £40?
 
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Driver068

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1st year - £23k then after 12 months £40k
Annual pay increases for 3 years upto £54k
 

Driver068

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Reason for this is you do your rules to qualify as a driver with a DTM them rules are annual for 2 years. After that rules are every 2 years
 

TeaTrain

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Wow ( correct me if I read it wrong) 3 years before your on full salary? That can be difficult for those who want a career change but perhaps have to take a pay cut. Good luck to those who go for it!
 

John Bishop

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1st year - £23k then after 12 months £40k
Annual pay increases for 3 years upto £54k
Is the 12 month mark actually guaranteed though. As many Trainees at the moment can attest to, it’s taken them way longer due to training restrictions. Might be worth planning extra just incase.
 

Heatonmdd

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Is the 12 month mark actually guaranteed though. As many Trainees at the moment can attest to, it’s taken them way longer due to training restrictions. Might be worth planning extra just
The 12 month mark is a guarantee. You will get the increase regardless of how far the training has gone.
 

Daggers84

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21 Jul 2019
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A heads up in case anyone is in the middle of their application, looks like the closing date has changed from 4th April to today (1st April)
 

Crags79

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Look out. Applications are no longer being accepted. The advert said to close on 4th, my initial e-mail from Northern said 2nd. The reality is 1st. I for one have been caught out here. Bugger!
 

DriverEight

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I noticed on their FAQ section if the Jobs page that part completed applications would not progress if the job closed early. I dashed mine off quickly, so it's probably not that good!
 

Fred Dinenage

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It’s how long is a piece of string. Shortest time I remember for Newcastle was around 2 weeks from close of applications. Longest was around 12 weeks.
 

RailLady

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It’s how long is a piece of string. Shortest time I remember for Newcastle was around 2 weeks from close of applications. Longest was around 12 weeks.
so true. Massively depends on how many applications there are and when the need to recruit for.
 

DriverEight

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Applications closed on Thursday and it's a long weekend so they won't have been back at work till yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if the first people we hear from will be automatic rejections that were filtered out based on postcode.
 
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