Trainee T&W Metro Driver Jobs

[abainbridge]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the recruitment process to become a Tyne and Wear Trainee Metro Driver?

I check the website daily hoping for a job opportunity but I'm always disappointed. Then today I was on a metro that had a driver under instruction sign and I wondered if I'd missed my chance again.

I was considering writing a speculative cover letter and C.V. to Nexus but I don't know how they view those things.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tony.

 

[Comfy]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the recruitment process to become a Tyne and Wear Trainee Metro Driver?

I check the website daily hoping for a job opportunity but I'm always disappointed. Then today I was on a metro that had a driver under instruction sign and I wondered if I'd missed my chance again.

I was considering writing a speculative cover letter and C.V. to Nexus but I don't know how they view those things.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tony.

They use those screens for trainee drivers but theyre used for other reasons too. Training takes around 6 months so it could be trainees from last year coming to the end of their training. Also If a driver is receiving extra training or if they are getting a routine assesment of their skills or have been off sick for a while and coming back and need some refreshing.

 

[DanNCL]

Adverts are usually out twice a year, and are well advertised on Metro’s social media pages. You may however wish to consider if Metro is really where you want to work. Staff morale there is low, management are incompetent, and there is talk of both a pay freeze and conditions changes being imposed by local government. If I were in your position I’d be looking for a driving job with just about anyone other than Metro. LNER, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express, Northern, Lumo, Grand Central, DB Cargo and GBRF all employ drivers in Tyne & Wear too so there are alternatives around.

Despite this though Metro do get a lot of applications for not many vacancies so are unlikely to pay any attention to a CV and cover letter sent in speculatively.

 

[abainbridge]

Thanks for your reply and your honesty to the job, I appreciate your help

 

[Volvictof]

I’m a driver there and to be honest, I’ve found it fantastic. Best job I’ve ever had. Obviously everyone has different experiences so im sure there are some ex employees who hated it, but all in all my experiences have been great. Don’t be put off by stories of low moral etc, find out for yourself. Of course the crem de la cream is being a high speed driver on the mainline so apply for those jobs too, but if you get in at metro it’s still a really good job with pay that is really good for the north east (even if it is pretty low for railways in general)

Our last driver recruitment was in 2019 A talent pool was created then and in the run up to each course a few more would be sent on their assessments and offered a place on the course if they pass them. There are still some left in that talent pool yet to start training and there are some still in training. The driver under instruction screens are used for trainees and for fully trained drivers that are being assessed or coached for a variety of reasons.

Keep a look out for the next recruitment campaign on the website and in the news (the Chronicle usually reports on it). I don’t know when it will be but I’d surmise that it won’t too long.

 

[abainbridge]

I’m a driver there and to be honest, I’ve found it fantastic. Best job I’ve ever had. Obviously everyone has different experiences so im sure there are some ex employees who hated it, but all in all my experiences have been great. Don’t be put off by stories of low moral etc, find out for yourself. Of course the crem de la cream is being a high speed driver on the mainline so apply for those jobs too, but if you get in at metro it’s still a really good job with pay that is really good for the north east (even if it is pretty low for railways in general)

Our last driver recruitment was in 2019 A talent pool was created then and in the run up to each course a few more would be sent on their assessments and offered a place on the course if they pass them. There are still some left in that talent pool yet to start training and there are some still in training. The driver under instruction screens are used for trainees and for fully trained drivers that are being assessed or coached for a variety of reasons.

Keep a look out for the next recruitment campaign on the website and in the news (the Chronicle usually reports on it). I don’t know when it will be but I’d surmise that it won’t too long.

Thanks, I don't think I will be put off to be honest, the pay to me will end up being almost double my current salary and its something I see myself absolutely loving to do.

 

[philthetube]

Adverts are usually out twice a year, and are well advertised on Metro’s social media pages. You may however wish to consider if Metro is really where you want to work. Staff morale there is low, management are incompetent, and there is talk of both a pay freeze and conditions changes being imposed by local government. If I were in your position I’d be looking for a driving job with just about anyone other than Metro. LNER, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express, Northern, Lumo, Grand Central, DB Cargo and GBRF all employ drivers in Tyne & Wear too so there are alternatives around.

Despite this though Metro do get a lot of applications for not many vacancies so are unlikely to pay any attention to a CV and cover letter sent in speculatively.

It is probably the easiest job to get on the railway, although not easy, go for it, you could look at moving on after a while if you decide you want to.

 

[Volvictof]

Thanks, I don't think I will be put off to be honest, the pay to me will end up being almost double my current salary and its something I see myself absolutely loving to do.

The salary is fantastic when coming from the non railway world, I pinch myself every day.
But for me the better part of the job is the time away from work; we work 4 day weeks and the shift pattern can often see you having 5 or 6 days off in a row yet very rarely working over more than 4 days.
Obviously the shifts themselves can be early mornings or late nights and aren’t to everyone’s taste (although swaps are plentiful)
The downsides are there of course; the prevalence of anti social behaviour being one. The other being that the nature of the job can be very tedious and boring (once you’ve gotten over the initial excitement of driving a train). But there are also times when it gets very exciting too.
Good luck when you do apply.

 

[Driver068]

Adverts are usually out twice a year, and are well advertised on Metro’s social media pages. You may however wish to consider if Metro is really where you want to work. Staff morale there is low, management are incompetent, and there is talk of both a pay freeze and conditions changes being imposed by local government. If I were in your position I’d be looking for a driving job with just about anyone other than Metro. LNER, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express, Northern, Lumo, Grand Central, DB Cargo and GBRF all employ drivers in Tyne & Wear too so there are alternatives around.

Despite this though Metro do get a lot of applications for not many vacancies so are unlikely to pay any attention to a CV and cover letter sent in speculatively.

I agree to what has been said and i also agree that the decision is yours and researching as much as you can in regards to T&W Metro amd other TOCs in your local area.

From my experience and i accept many are different i know a couple of Drivers on the Metro and i have also come across and worked with some former Metro drivers and they pretty much concur with the above statement - with Nexus there is a majour issue with them looking after there employees to where morale is low and many drivers will jump shift as soon as they can, money is not everything if staff members are being reated poorly - this is where research on your part comes in mate. But again the best desicion for you can only be made by you.

I have heard that Lumo will be looking for more Apprenticeship drivers - but i take that with a pinch of salt because i cant see the justification on how/why that may be.
I also know Northern are recruiting Driver's for Newcastle which is on going - more advertisements and courses are expected throughout 2022 and into 2023 so keep a look out and sign up for alerts.

As a side note DB are looking for Trainee Tra8n Drivers - North East if you are interested. Must live within 1 hour of Peterlee - Hub.

Good luck eitherway

 

[Volvictof]

Thanks, I don't think I will be put off to be honest, the pay to me will end up being almost double my current salary and its something I see myself absolutely loving to do.

Recruitment went live yesterday. Won’t be open long.

 

[WBFC345]

Is there any current drivers on here? If so what are the t&cs like?

 

[Volvictof]

Is there any current drivers on here? If so what are the t&cs like?

Probably not as good as the some of mainline companies but I’m pretty happy with them.

 

[Norm88]

Do we know if Sundays are inside or outside the base salary?

 

[Volvictof]

Do we know if Sundays are inside or outside the base salary?

if you mean what I think you mean then inside.

 

[Norm88]

if you mean what I think you mean then inside.

I’m meaning are Sundays considered overtime as some TOCs/NR do, or are they rostered and counted within the advertised salary

 

[Volvictof]

I’m meaning are Sundays considered overtime as some TOCs/NR do, or are they rostered and counted within the advertised salary

Ahh yes as I though. Yeah Sundays are normal Rostered days.

 

[Norm88]

Thank you

I’m a driver there and to be honest, I’ve found it fantastic. Best job I’ve ever had. Obviously everyone has different experiences so im sure there are some ex employees who hated it, but all in all my experiences have been great. Don’t be put off by stories of low moral etc, find out for yourself. Of course the crem de la cream is being a high speed driver on the mainline so apply for those jobs too, but if you get in at metro it’s still a really good job with pay that is really good for the north east (even if it is pretty low for railways in general)

Our last driver recruitment was in 2019 A talent pool was created then and in the run up to each course a few more would be sent on their assessments and offered a place on the course if they pass them. There are still some left in that talent pool yet to start training and there are some still in training. The driver under instruction screens are used for trainees and for fully trained drivers that are being assessed or coached for a variety of reasons.

Keep a look out for the next recruitment campaign on the website and in the news (the Chronicle usually reports on it). I don’t know when it will be but I’d surmise that it won’t too long.

Interesting point you make about the main line jobs being the most coveted - do you find many drivers move on from the metro to these roles? Is it transferable? (ie - if a TOC was to advertise for qualified drivers, could a metro driver apply or do they have to start again in a trainee role for the main line?)

 

[Driver068]

It all depends on the current climate and that particular TOC.

Current climate - there was a point TPE, LUMO and GC took on T&W Metro drivers. From what i hear TPE will not be recruiting any time soon and that the reason why they needed drivers was because of the sheer volume they needed back in 2019. I have heard they wont take metro drivers again but i have also heard they might. But again current climate. LUMO did also take on T&W Metro drivers in their initial set up but for the last 12-18 months they have activily only recruited Qualified Drivers. GC have been known to take T&W Metro drivers but have recently under gone a trainee apprenticeship program so again unlikely in the near future. With GC i feel that door maybe slighlty open for metro drivers.

As for LNER and XC the answer is no - On LNER adverts it actively states not open to metro or depor drivers (Well in the past it did) - they also are undergoing trainee apprenticeship programs.

XC again NO they dont - again more apprenticeship programs for various locations in uk.

As for NORTHERN they dont recognise Metro drivers so if successful on your applications you will undergo a trainee apprenticeship program and retrain.

Hope that help. I would say if you are going train driver to gain experience of going mainline then that would not be the best approach. NORTHERN will be looking for drivers during 2022/2023 also. What i am saying is it will be extremely difficult and unlikely to move from T&W Metro to a ML TOC without undergoing another training program.

 

[43066]

Just out of interest can anyone confirm definitely whether Metro drivers end up with a full NR train driving license? I’ve read mixed things on here about that, over the years.

@abainbridge that’s something to consider as it will make a difference to how easily you could transfer to a “mainline” TOC in future should you wish to.

 

[Zomboida]

Curious about the supporting statement for this one
Does it mean for you to provide a example for each of the skills/qualities in the person specification or just the one detailed relevant example?

 

[Driver068]

Just out of interest can anyone confirm definitely whether Metro drivers end up with a full NR train driving license? I’ve read mixed things on here about that, over the years.

@abainbridge that’s something to consider as it will make a difference to how easily you could transfer to a “mainline” TOC in future should you wish to.

I believe NO - they dont aquire a train drivers license

 

[magpiepotts]

Looking at applying for this. Currently work as a senior conductor for West midlands trains but our family is looking to move back to Newcastle

 

[Volvictof]

Just out of interest can anyone confirm definitely whether Metro drivers end up with a full NR train driving license? I’ve read mixed things on here about that, over the years.

@abainbridge that’s something to consider as it will make a difference to how easily you could transfer to a “mainline” TOC in future should you wish to.

Unfortunatly not, T&W metro drivers don‘t get a train driving licence therefore can‘t be classed as qualified drivers for any company although TPE have been know to put on ”conversion courses” specifically for them. Mostly it’s starting from scratch As a trainee. But plenty of people do it, in fact there was a time when we were losing drivers at an alarming rate, although that has been sorted out with better pay and better T&Cs.
We‘re allowed to drive on NR infrastructure without a train driving licence with special dispensation, same as with PTS as we don’t have the full version and only do what is relevant to what we would come across on nexus rails and the small part of the NR route we travel on.

Curious about the supporting statement for this one
Does it mean for you to provide a example for each of the skills/qualities in the person specification or just the one detailed relevant example?

I did one for each.

Looking at applying for this. Currently work as a senior conductor for West midlands trains but our family is looking to move back to Newcastle

applications close i believe on the 9th of this month or when they have received 1000 apps.
then there won’t be another recruitment for a few years I’m afraid. Not sure if where you currently live will affect your application You’d have to email and ask I suppose.

 

[Zomboida]

Unfortunatly not, T&W metro drivers don‘t get a train driving licence therefore can‘t be classed as qualified drivers for any company although TPE have been know to put on ”conversion courses” specifically for them. Mostly it’s starting from scratch As a trainee. But plenty of people do it, in fact there was a time when we were losing drivers at an alarming rate, although that has been sorted out with better pay and better T&Cs.
We‘re allowed to drive on NR infrastructure without a train driving licence with special dispensation, same as with PTS as we don’t have the full version and only do what is relevant to what we would come across on nexus rails and the small part of the NR route we travel on.


I did one for each.



applications close i believe on the 9th of this month or when they have received 1000 apps.
then there won’t be another recruitment for a few years I’m afraid. Not sure if where you currently live will affect your application You’d have to email and ask I suppose.

I went for each of them in the end in any case so thats good!
Thanks!

 

[Volvictof]

Funnily enough I’ve just seen that Northern have just opened recruitment for newcastle.

 

[43066]

Unfortunatly not, T&W metro drivers don‘t get a train driving licence therefore can‘t be classed as qualified drivers for any company although TPE have been know to put on ”conversion courses” specifically for them. Mostly it’s starting from scratch As a trainee. But plenty of people do it, in fact there was a time when we were losing drivers at an alarming rate, although that has been sorted out with better pay and better T&Cs.
We‘re allowed to drive on NR infrastructure without a train driving licence with special dispensation, same as with PTS as we don’t have the full version and only do what is relevant to what we would come across on nexus rails and the small part of the NR route we travel on.

Thanks that’s interesting to know - sounds like it’s sort of in a “grey area” all of its own.

Of course having TOCs recruiting locally can only be good for Metro Ts and Cs so it’s good to hear they’re improving

 

[magpiepotts]

Application submitted. Might be a problem with where I love however I did email nexus and they said that they take applications out of area also

I've had an invite to do psychometric tests

 

[18nufc98]

Applied yesterday and received an email today asking to do the online psychometrics. Never done these before, are these similar to the LNER entry questions?

 

[Volvictof]

Applied yesterday and received an email today asking to do the online psychometrics. Never done these before, are these similar to the LNER entry questions?

I’ve heared a few people say this now. They must be a brand new thing so no one seems to know. But yes the assumption is that it will be something similar to what LNER have.

 

[abainbridge]

Hi everyone, I applied on day one of the advert being live.
I made separate points in the supporting statement and used all 1000 word, though I could have used 100 more.
I got invited to the Psychometric tests and now I'm waiting for the results of that. I think one off them was pretty hard to answer as most of the points seemed important and you had to chose three, really struggled to pick the third.