LU Night Tube Train Operator - Part Time

[PhoenixAndy]

Nice one chaps. Can you swap holidays with other ops? We had a similar system when I worked at the Daily Mail (been a printer all my life) and you got given a years rota in advance with holidays built in but you could do swaps.
HR asked me if I had any holidays booked already and I had to send proof. I'm assuming they'll honour those dates one way or another or will I have to wait and see the depot manager?

 

[Lewlew]

Nice one chaps. Can you swap holidays with other ops? We had a similar system when I worked at the Daily Mail (been a printer all my life) and you got given a years rota in advance with holidays built in but you could do swaps.
HR asked me if I had any holidays booked already and I had to send proof. I'm assuming they'll honour those dates one way or another or will I have to wait and see the depot manager?

They'll honour any pre-booked holidays.

You can swap with other drivers and if there is an available week then you can move your leave to that date. The admin staff are very helpful

 

[DietCoke]

Hi guys how does the mafia work? I prefer lates/nights, do you think it would be easy for me to get involved? Thanks

 

[Halfway Boy]

Hi guys how does the mafia work? I prefer lates/nights, do you think it would be easy for me to get involved? Thanks

there is no mafia for night tube... because you only do nights...

 

[DietCoke]

there is no mafia for night tube... because you only do nights...

Sorry I meant for full time...

 

[Halfway Boy]

Sorry I meant for full time...

depends on your depot really.

generally speaking earlies are the most popular so you shouldn’t have a problem getting lates.

getting on the nights might be a bit more difficult. At least at my depot, there isn’t enough nights to go around so they end up doing a mixture of lates then nights.

nightmen tend to be looked after for some reason, I have absolutely no idea why as it’s an easy gig.

literally getting paid to sleep or watch TV if there’s no de-icing to be done.

 

[DietCoke]

edit....

 

[AQK]

What are the shift times for nights?

 

[Lewlew]

What are the shift times for nights?

Book on anytime between 2030 and 2359, latest book off 0829. All duties are 8h 30m including 30m unpaid meal relief. That's for Night Tube not full time.

 

[maheep]

Hello Everyone,

I have read that tube operator jobs are not publicly advertised. I am a university student and quite fancy the idea of being a night tube driver. Does anyone know if this job will be advertised externally and if so how often does the post come about?

Sorry if i have offended you with my ignorance.

Many Thanks

 

[bluegoblin7]

Very unlikely that it will be advertised externally again now. The initial vacancies came about because there were very few internal applicants, however since that time many have seen it as the best way into the train operator grade, to the point that there is now an excess of internal candidates applying for the role.

The best way in now would be via part time, Night Tube Customer Service Assistant, which would also open up the full time Train Operator role.

 

[Nevergiveup]

Does anyone know what assessments you’re required to do for full time role?

Very unlikely that it will be advertised externally again now. The initial vacancies came about because there were very few internal applicants, however since that time many have seen it as the best way into the train operator grade, to the point that there is now an excess of internal candidates applying for the role.

The best way in now would be via part time, Night Tube Customer Service Assistant, which would also open up the full time Train Operator role.

 

[seano]

Hi. I have an AC1 coming up. I'm an external candidate. I was wondering (if anyone can remember!), for the following information and understanding information tests, is it better to read the passages of information first or read the questions first? Also can anyone remember how many questions they did in these tests. Someone made a freedom of information request for a previous campaign and the benchmark was 25 for both these tests.

 

[DietCoke]

Hi. I have an AC1 coming up. I'm an external candidate. I was wondering (if anyone can remember!), for the following information and understanding information tests, is it better to read the passages of information first or read the questions first? Also can anyone remember how many questions they did in these tests. Someone made a freedom of information request for a previous campaign and the benchmark was 25 for both these tests.

Do whichever method is best for you. when did you apply. that must have been a long wait. I believe they both had 40 questions

 

[seano]

I applied first time when it first went public. I failed the traffic lights then. I know now you have to work those from the back. I applied again about two years ago. They suspended the campaign and got back to me recently. I completed 26 and 28 questions on the following and understanding information tests then. But I must have got some wrong. I think you can get more done by reading the questions first, but with less accuracy. I'm in a bit of a quandary which method to use. I'm hoping the benchmark won't be as high this time cos it's probably mostly internals.

 

[KCJones]

I did it about 2.5yrs ago but it was about 36 questions, I recommend doing them in reverse. I found it took too long to read the questions so didn't after the first one !

 

[seano]

I did it about 2.5yrs ago but it was about 36 questions, I recommend doing them in reverse. I found it took too long to read the questions so didn't after the first one !

Thanks. So did you read the question before the passage of information or the other way round? How many did you do roughly?

 

[KCJones]

Yeah I didn't read description, but read question and scanned for the answer.
I finished all the questions with time to spare.
Practice at speed.

 

[PhoenixAndy]

Just a heads up for anyone waiting for a training date......all train op courses are suspended until further notice.
Any internal trainees are being sent back to their former roles.
All external trainees are doing a two day travel ambassador course and being sent to stations.
This has been done as iops and trainees can't maintain social distancing in a cab.
I'm on week 7 fyi and have no idea when my driver training will recommence but just letting people on the waiting list, it's gonna be another long wait

 

[Gunner4lyf94]

Just a heads up for anyone waiting for a training date......all train op courses are suspended until further notice.
Any internal trainees are being sent back to their former roles.
All external trainees are doing a two day travel ambassador course and being sent to stations.
This has been done as iops and trainees can't maintain social distancing in a cab.
I'm on week 7 fyi and have no idea when my driver training will recommence but just letting people on the waiting list, it's gonna be another long wait

Gutting! But fully understandable with what's going on. Had just done my medical for a full time position. With training scheduled to take place on the 13th april but has now been postponed. Positive is that I've been told I will be one of the first to be rescheduled once this all blows over.

 

[KCJones]

Just a heads up for anyone waiting for a training date......all train op courses are suspended until further notice.
Any internal trainees are being sent back to their former roles.
All external trainees are doing a two day travel ambassador course and being sent to stations.
This has been done as iops and trainees can't maintain social distancing in a cab.
I'm on week 7 fyi and have no idea when my driver training will recommence but just letting people on the waiting list, it's gonna be another long wait

Sorry to hear that, being at a station if it's busy at now won't be much fun

I've not heard back from TfL since December when I said I couldn't start training in March due to an April holiday.

Now I'm on 2yrs 4months since being offered the job, maybe they've removed me from the list !

Was hoping to be the oldest trainee they've had

 

[PhoenixAndy]

Sorry to hear that, being at a station if it's busy at now won't be much fun

I've not heard back from TfL since December when I said I couldn't start training in March due to an April holiday.

Now I'm on 2yrs 4months since being offered the job, maybe they've removed me from the list !

Was hoping to be the oldest trainee they've had

You'd have to beat a 58 year old

 

[KCJones]

You'd have to beat a 58 year old

There's still a slim chance as I'm....................................................58 too

 

[Whassup]

Just got email from background check company asking me to complete required forms... Indication of training recommencing soon?

 

[oz220]

Just got email from background check company asking me to complete required forms... Indication of training recommencing soon?

I would say unlikely in the very near future at least. Maybe in a couple of months but I’m sure they’ll have a backlog to deal with by then with all the cancellations.

 

[bluegoblin7]

There’s a very finite training resource within LU at the best of times. Given there is no training at all taking place at the moment, include annual license renewals and the like, there is going to be a very big backlog once new ways of delivering training are agreed on. Keeping staff licensed (to keep the network running) is likely to take priority over new starters unfortunately.

Even if classroom based training restarted tomorrow, the next hurdle is then the location-based training (be that trains, stations, wherever). There are as yet no agreed safe methods of working to deliver this, and in any case social distancing would be impossible in pretty much every area where this training would happen. I was due to have a trainee with me two weeks ago (and then a steady trickle thereafter) - all on hold indefinitely, unfortunately.

 

[Whassup]

Thanks for your views. Was probably a bit optimistic in my assessment. Out of curiosity, are classroom trainees furloughed at the moment?

 

[bluegoblin7]

I believe the last external T/Op course to run was quickly turned into a CSA2 course, as such those folk will now be temporarily deployed on stations. All internal trainees (across all courses) have returned to their previous roles/grades. I don't believe any have been furloughed, but some of the training team has.

 

[Lewlew]

I believe some new joiners were also given "Ambassador" training/license so will be helping out on stations

 

[Skillz]

For the trainee train ops who have had their training cancelled due to this pandemic, regardless of how far they were in to their training... would such a situation ever occur where TfL decided to pull the plug on hiring them as train ops altogether? Everyone has obviously left their previous roles to take up this training, and in terms of the external candidates, they would have no former role to go back to..!