Probably not as attractive as you might think for qualifieds, I believe the route knowledge is very limited, so say you drive liverpool to york twice a day every day, instead of doing longer distances etc, but happy to be corrected by those in the know.
TPE don't struggle to recruit qualifieds, there's a steady flow from Northern and other TOCs/FOC's. TPE actually have better T&C's than XC/LNER/Avanti for most part, drivers have been known to move over from the aforementioned TOC's.
Liverpool to York is just one route, no depot just signs that route. The route cards are actually quite big.
There's no shortage of drivers, just a need to fill positions with retirements coming up in the next few years, no different to most TOC's. There's a requirement by the franchise to recruit and train up so many trainees, hence the positions coming up. However, I know it's disappointing for those who applied, but you have to remember we are in a global pandemic still hence them pulling the plug on these positions.
There's plenty of trainees still in the system and with the reduced services, there's no need to recruit more trainees as things stand.