• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Which TOC is better for trainee driver ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Bourlea

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2015
Messages
40
Is there any major differences between TOCs when it comes to accepting a position as a trainee driver?
Is Southern better than SWR or should I go for the one that offers a course first and not worry about the company?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Bourlea

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2015
Messages
40
Awaiting course date with one (everything passed except medical) and the other is offering a course date in next month if pass DMI in next few weeks
 

Peeler

Member
Joined
8 Mar 2019
Messages
92
Surely if you had got that far with both of these you would have done your research to know which one would be best for YOU?! Depot location to where you live? Course location? Pay? Company culture etc.
 

Bourlea

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2015
Messages
40
Southern at the moment but how long can you wait for a course date?
Is it better just going for the company that offers the first course date?
Both positions are metro work, are there any major differences?
 

ComUtoR

Established Member
Joined
13 Dec 2013
Messages
9,397
Location
UK
How close I live, How much I get paid. Not sure I care about anything else.

I drive Metro/DOO and I've driven Mainline/Guards and for me, it's much of a muchess between them. Unless there was something really specific that I couldn't do then I wouldn't be that fussed. I think a lot of people have a red line they won't cross but generally I want to get to work easy and get paid at the end of the month. Things change and you need to look long term at what you want to do and where you want to do it.
 

Peeler

Member
Joined
8 Mar 2019
Messages
92
I know a little bit about SWR (which is my only preferred TOC).

Training school is at Basingstoke. Unlike Southern they are currently committed to guards on trains so pay is less than Southern but in my view trains are better with guards. Most drivers work 5 day weeks though and therefore can earn 60kpa.

SWR has a good family feel & in general people are happy there. They operate one of the busiest networks in the country & there are unique challenges but also better opportunities?
 

joystick

Member
Joined
15 Nov 2016
Messages
104
Swr have new timetable in May which I've heard involves more driving , also do they have enough di's?
 

Bourlea

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2015
Messages
40
Surely if you had got that far with both of these you would have done your research to know which one would be best for YOU?! Depot location to where you live? Course location? Pay? Company culture etc.
I have, in between both depots so travel not an issue. Both have / are going through difficult periods with timetables and infrastructure issues. One is getting new trains the other almost has a standard stock.
And I was asking for other people’s views rather than being questioned
 

Mgv1349

Member
Joined
10 Oct 2018
Messages
191
Is there any major differences between TOCs when it comes to accepting a position as a trainee driver?
Is Southern better than SWR or should I go for the one that offers a course first and not worry about the company?
Personally I’d go for the one who offers you a course first, you don’t want to be sat in a pool for two years, you could be fully qualified and productive by then.
 

bionic

Member
Joined
8 Nov 2013
Messages
883
My gut feeling of those two TOCs is SWT would be better. However if you've already been offered a start with Southern then I'd take that, and look to move TOC when no longer PQA. The key thing is to keep a clean licence. It's easy to balls up on suburban work. More so on DOO. Having a guard is a big plus. There are plenty of DOO drivers with stuff on their safety records that having a guard would have helped prevent... stop short door release (on TOCs where the guard opens the doors), wrong side release, trap and drag, self dispatch SPAD etc. If you rack up safety incidents you wont be able to move so that's definitely a consideration too.
 

Stigy

Established Member
Joined
6 Nov 2009
Messages
4,879
I’d definitely go with whoever has a job on the table for you. Things can change really quickly and the fact that you’re still an interview away with one of the TOCs far from guarantees you an offer with them too.
 

Unknockable

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2018
Messages
85
My gut feeling of those two TOCs is SWT would be better. However if you've already been offered a start with Southern then I'd take that, and look to move TOC when no longer PQA. The key thing is to keep a clean licence. It's easy to balls up on suburban work. More so on DOO. Having a guard is a big plus. There are plenty of DOO drivers with stuff on their safety records that having a guard would have helped prevent... stop short door release (on TOCs where the guard opens the doors), wrong side release, trap and drag, self dispatch SPAD etc. If you rack up safety incidents you wont be able to move so that's definitely a consideration too.
I wonder how many drivers out there have incidents on their record compared drivers with clean ones
 

Lewis H

Member
Joined
11 Dec 2018
Messages
146
Considering you already work or have worked on SWR, you should already know if SWR is any good or not ....
 

Dieseldriver

Member
Joined
9 Apr 2012
Messages
971
I wonder how many drivers out there have incidents on their record compared drivers with clean ones
The vast majority of Drivers that have been driving longer than a few years don't have clean records. Generally though, most drivers with blemishes have one or two minor incidents spread out over a long period of time. In my experience, there is largely a direct correlation between high levels of professionalism/good safety of the line record. There is also largely a direct correlation between cockiness and unprofessionalism/poor safety of the line record. Obviously there are some exceptions to this.
 

Bourlea

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2015
Messages
40
Your old posts indicates you worked for swt/r as a guard....
Yes, I was a guard for SWT and enjoyed every minute of it and I would still recommend it now if asked.
But since I have left and SWT was taken over by SWR, it seems to get a lot worse press and I only see what’s said from the outside, that’s why I asked the question
 

Lewis H

Member
Joined
11 Dec 2018
Messages
146
Yes, I was a guard for SWT and enjoyed every minute of it and I would still recommend it now if asked.
But since I have left and SWT was taken over by SWR, it seems to get a lot worse press and I only see what’s said from the outside, that’s why I asked the question
Exactly the same people, they didnt just come in and replace everyone! I havent worked at SWR long, but I think its brilliant, seem well organised, the trainers have been there for 20 odd years, so the experience is there, cant fault it
 

joystick

Member
Joined
15 Nov 2016
Messages
104
Have they got enough instructors at Swr there was a comment somewhere in this forum that trainees were taking months just to get about 26 hrs .
 

Lewis H

Member
Joined
11 Dec 2018
Messages
146
Have they got enough instructors at Swr there was a comment somewhere in this forum that trainees were taking months just to get about 26 hrs .
Think its very depot dependent, I know it is an issue some places, but not as bad as that!
 

LCC106

Established Member
Joined
16 Nov 2011
Messages
1,301
Awaiting course date with one (everything passed except medical) and the other is offering a course date in next month if pass DMI in next few weeks
Key point here is you haven’t and may not pass the DMI. You don’t want to pass on the 1st job and miss out altogether if you fail the DMI.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top