Unless DBS trainee conditions have changed you will go onto full drivers rate when you drive your first productive train,so anything between say 9 months to a year. Take into account how many trainees at depot and how many minder drivers there have,you could have to share, also if the minder is on leave you will get no handling hours in. But like i said DBS could be going down the structured pay route now, where as it could take you 3 years to get onto full money.Could be a union thing,also alot of drivers didnt like the fact you came out of school and went onto big bucks!! Thats just the way it is mate, if i was to drive for say crosscountry even though im qualified it would take me 2/3 year to get onto full salary after routes and traction.
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Trainee drivers at DB schenker
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doubleamber
Member
Excellent write up there, on both your accounts, I have applied for the trainee position and at least hope to get an interview, did my driver assesment back in nov 2011, (paid for myself), your kind of story gives me lots of butterflys, but at the same time makes me want the job even more!!
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From what a lot of people have posted a lot of people are paying to do their assessments privately. Did you pass the assessments well?
doubleamber
Member
Yes mate, Passed first time on everything, got a boarder line pass on the DTG which I kicked myself over, and would be happy to take it again if needed, I know were i messed up as well. Did get a very good pass on the GB though, so fingers toes and ears crossed.
Go for it Matey, You have to throw your hat in the ring to be considered, some love it others hate it. Just go strong on safety in the interview
I Wont lie, the jobs great,you are your own boss basically, but the shifts can be an absolute killer, 5 1am 12 HR shifts is enough to frighten anyone!! rough with the smooth in the freight, Good luck!Might be worth another shot my friend. The have been a lot of posts recently that says TOCs are not accepting borderline passes due to high demand for positions. Don't know whether that will the same with DBS. They may well pay for you to resit just the DTG if you score wasn't good enough for them though. Very best of luck to you!
doubleamber
Member
DBS except boarderline passes, well they did when I did the assessment, the interviews would be held at Doncaster, all the gear is there, so if it is mentioned, and only if, I would give it another go, you can only fail it twice, there are no rules to how many times you can take it.
It's been posted on here that they have closed the advertisement early. Must have had a lot of people applying.
rugi
Member
Yes I saw that too, same with ATW. Well I've applied but with only 4 positions in my area and probably only two within my travelling time I don't hold any expectations. Especially as there is talk some qualified drivers may be applying. Good luck to others of you in different areas.
May have had alot of qualified drivers from heavy haul/GBRF applying to go back,loads left EWS through surplus drivers and jumped to HH or GBRF a few years back. Several could go back for the conditions as they have the best(not by much tho). So if DBS could save several thousands having to train guys up from scratch when freight men with current traction and route knowledge could jump straight in the seat then thats what management of any operator would do.
doubleamber
Member
Yer, a mate of mines been a driver for DBS for years, gave me the heads up, applied on the first day
Yer, a mate of mines been a driver for DBS for years, gave me the heads up, applied on the first day
Good luck however on the railway you will soon discover that the terminology within the signalling system would be "2 yellows" or "Double Yellow" re your user name
doubleamber
Member
Cheers TDK, will bear that in mind, I find your posts very inspiring!
Still got to get over the DBS employees and the qualified Drivers going for the jobs, one thing I have thought about is the fact trainees are locked in for three years (unless you want to pay a fine) and qualified drivers can say good bye when ever they want, would dbs look at this when it comes to recruiting??
Still got to get over the DBS employees and the qualified Drivers going for the jobs, one thing I have thought about is the fact trainees are locked in for three years (unless you want to pay a fine) and qualified drivers can say good bye when ever they want, would dbs look at this when it comes to recruiting??
Not really because they haven't paid to train a qualified driver so if they leave after a year they haven't lost anything.
doubleamber
Member
Very true, but they still have to be replaced
Beveridges
Established Member
They could still lose a lot a great deal, because even a Qualified Driver would still have had training on routes, traction and freight handling. That is still a very lot of training. Especially if it is a Qualified Driver from a TOC, whos only driven Units and does not sign any of the routes at the depot he is going to. I'd bet that would be at least 6 months training to sign the core routes, and probably would still need more route learning later.
Not so much training if its a Qualified Driver from another FOC *and* already signs the traction and the majority of the routes.
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The odds are very slim indeed that a pass driver would apply to go freight, nice clean cab on a dayshift, to getting up at 1am, prob want there heads looking at. Even still its only something like 3 days to learn the 66, core routes would be a few weeks if that. As for freight men going to DBS, remember there are loads of ex DBS now applying there trade at either Heavy Haul or GBRF, so the traction knowledge is current(class 66) 1 day refresher for 60, and also there sign the routes the company goes over, power stations, loading ports. And i aint been funny but HH and GB guys have bigger route cards than most DBS depots, like the A-Z some of them, A good example would be the HH/GBRF Donny men going back to knottingley,DBS would love that, it would save them an absolute fortune ,so end of the day it would cost DBS nothing to employ another freight man, thats why if there can get a freight man ASAP thats what will happen, it will be last resort internal, then external trainees.
Beveridges
Established Member
Some pass drivers (e.g. Northern) are stuck on the same 2 routes all day, having not been trained on anything else years after passing out due to staff shortages, very bored with the job, some already say they sometimes have to get up at 1am to get into work for a 3 O'clock start (yes even for pass work) - not everyone lives local and shifts where they take the first units off depots in the morning tend to be as bad as the worse shifts on the freight. Also, 142 cabs are anything but nice or clean.
So freight might appeal to some of these drivers? Also working with locos instead of units appeals to some. Not just spotter types as well.
Really a few weeks when DBS Crewe (for example) sign the WCML from Euston all the way to Carlisle, plus a lot more??
In my TOC, it takes a few weeks to get a qualified driver signed off on a 45 mile route!
Also, wouldn't a pass driver have to complete a number of hours freight handling as part of the training? Something like 100-150 hours if I remember correctly?
Yes traction training wouldn't be much but when you add route learning, assessments and everything else I could see the training taking a while for a pass driver.
yes completely agree with that one, its just how many would really leave FHH/DRS/GBRf to go to DB Schenker?
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For a conversion from a loco maybe but not if you haven't signed loco's before then it will be 2 weeks plus handling probably totalling 4 weeks
Core routes can take a long time, so, what are the core routes of a DBS driver? Answers on a post card if you actually know!
shedman
Member
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Just wondering if anyone has heard back yet?
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Out of the many,many TOC drivers I meet and speak to over the course of a normal working week I can guarantee you one thing:
The vast majority have no interest whatsover in freight driving.
Those that are 'thinking' about it have shown interest for one simple reason - to be closer to home.
I know a whole X-Country depot 90% filled with ex-freight drivers and not one of them would come back.
Same deal with 25 ex-freight drivers at an EC depot.
FTPE and Northern - same theme.
I know these men,worked with them for years,met their wives and children - you're on a depot driving at 5mph listening to moaning Northern drivers.
Which version represents the reality do you think?
shedman
Member
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Within 5 working days according to their websitd
doubleamber
Member
it said nothing about when you would be informed, . only if you have not heard anything in 12 weeks then you have been unsuccessful.
4th Feb was when interviews start, so that could mean external Drivers first, then internal applications, and then external, talking to a mate of mine who works in the offices at DBS Doncaster, and 11 people have applied in his office. so to be honest I'm not holding to much hope of even getting an interview.
it's like entering a competition, and the lucky winner is.......
4th Feb was when interviews start, so that could mean external Drivers first, then internal applications, and then external, talking to a mate of mine who works in the offices at DBS Doncaster, and 11 people have applied in his office. so to be honest I'm not holding to much hope of even getting an interview.
it's like entering a competition, and the lucky winner is.......
doubleamber
Member
How are you privey to this information ? Do you work for HR at DBS, I'm just quoting what was on their website.
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