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Being a train driver is "easy snd stress free" according to the sun

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railfire90

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ExRes

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Oh no ! We've been found out !

Again and again and again, this is an ideal example of the laziness of the so called 'reporters' that infest the media these days, boring, repetitive garbage that could be surpassed by my dogs and a box of crayons
 

Tetchytyke

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Similar story in the Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, even included some quotes from this very forum.

It’ll be like most jobs, easy and stress free right up until it isn’t.
 

43066

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Train drivers set to strike ahead of Christmas can earn salaries up to £100k as some claim there’s ‘no stress’ in job

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24856...harebar_app&utm_campaign=sharebar_app_article

How true is this

£100k is doable, but that would be with significant overtime (to the point of not having much of life outside of work). Certainly not true there’s no stress to the job, this is just yet another pathetic and lazy article intended to whip up bitterness and jealousy amongst the hard of thinking.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

It’ll be like most jobs, easy and stress free right up until it isn’t.

Absolutely.
 

GWVillager

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They appear to have got the idea (and quotes) from the Telegraph. Just like that article, this is poor journalism at best and hateful misinformation at worst.
 

Purple Train

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They appear to have got the idea (and quotes) from the Telegraph. Just like that article, this is poor journalism at best and hateful misinformation at worst.
It's just lazy. Half of it's the Telegraph article but with some of the big, incomprehensible words like "unjustifiable" replaced, and half of it is counting in base 8. It isn't worthy of being called journalism.
 

gordonthemoron

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I was told by a journalist friend that journos know little about the subjects they write about, they just know how to write. And this is a prime example
 

Ken X

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Reminds me of a chat I had with a Pilot at Gatwick one day. We got onto salaries and he agreed he was well paid for the normal day to day flying routine. But, he said "you probably don't want to be on a plane where I am earning every penny of my salary." Point taken.:D
 

bramling

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Train drivers set to strike ahead of Christmas can earn salaries up to £100k as some claim there’s ‘no stress’ in job

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24856...harebar_app&utm_campaign=sharebar_app_article

How true is this

Yes driving a train is fairly easy, and with a bit of experience is very easy.

But the job as a whole is more difficult. Firstly the need to maintain concentration at all times so as to never make an error. Secondly to be able to deal with potentially quite challenging situations, again without making an error, and having to correctly apply rarely-used rules and procedures at the drop of a hat. And of course the need to arrange life so as to not be tired at work.

As to £100k. Not sure who is supposed to pay that as a basic. It’s possible, on most operators, but only with a level of overtime which many people wouldn’t wish to do.
 

YorkshireBear

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Reminds me of a chat I had with a Pilot at Gatwick one day. We got onto salaries and he agreed he was well paid for the normal day to day flying routine. But, he said "you probably don't want to be on a plane where I am earning every penny of my salary." Point taken.:D
Very good way of putting it!

As others have said, on a normal day it probably doesn't feel too difficult, appreciating the concentration required, (my own job doesn't either) but it's when the proverbial hits the fan that the money is earned and justified.
 

bramling

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Reminds me of a chat I had with a Pilot at Gatwick one day. We got onto salaries and he agreed he was well paid for the normal day to day flying routine. But, he said "you probably don't want to be on a plane where I am earning every penny of my salary." Point taken.:D

Same with certain railway control and incident response roles. A good manager will be pleased to walk in and see the staff playing board games and drinking tea, because they know the railway is running well.

I daresay The Sun would come to the view these roles are easy if they walked in to a control room at a time when nothing is going on.
 
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bramling

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I'm not sure if this is humour or a genuine question. The fact it's in the Sun should tell you all you need to know.

I’m amazed The Sun is still a viable business to be honest, even notwithstanding how it is bankrolled. Incredible really that in 2023 it’s still going.
 

tony6499

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They get the usual quotes in it from people on lower earning jobs wishing drivers were paid less instead of themselves worth more. I wonder how many of the rent a quote mob actually know what being a driver entails ?
 

Krokodil

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Reminds me of a chat I had with a Pilot at Gatwick one day. We got onto salaries and he agreed he was well paid for the normal day to day flying routine. But, he said "you probably don't want to be on a plane where I am earning every penny of my salary." Point taken.:D
Indeed, almost everything is automated. When it all goes wrong is when they show why they're paid so much.

Are you 100% sure about that?
Well that's the theory at least. These days the literacy is often questionable however.

They get the usual quotes in it from people on lower earning jobs wishing drivers were paid less instead of themselves worth more. I wonder how many of the rent a quote mob actually know what being a driver entails ?
Funnily enough when you ask them if they've applied you just get a mumbled response back.
 

12LDA28C

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Train drivers don't really get paid for what they do. They get paid for what they know.
 

baz962

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Train drivers don't really get paid for what they do. They get paid for what they know.
Although to add it's also what we do. Most people probably think you get in the cab and go. If you got them to read their safety notices and gave them a rulebook to digest and the periodic operating notice and weekly operating notice and sectional appendix you would probably get rid of ninety percent of them or their head would explode. They would turn up at a depot and not even know which service and which unit they would be driving.
 

TheSmiths82

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The Sun is just a a publication designed purely to make the less intelligent and fortunate angry about nothing. If it was a person it would be Lee Anderson. It designed simple to make people think the world will exploded if they don't vote for a right wing extremist party. I am not sure you could even call it a news paper. To people who think train drivers earn too much money, would they want the responsibility for driving a vehicle that could kill 1000's of people if something went badly wrong?
 

Thornaby 37

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I wonder how many of the journalists from that rag would be capable of getting through the mandatory concentration tests and medicals just to get through the initial assessment phase. Or how many of them would have any concept of having absolutely zero drugs and alcohol in their system when they start work
It isn't the first time these tinpot rags have spouted this sort of disinformation, and I doubt it will be the last
 

43066

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The Sun is just a a publication designed purely to make the less intelligent and fortunate angry about nothing. If it was a person it would be Lee Anderson. It designed simple to make people think the world will exploded if they don't vote for a right wing extremist party. I am not sure you could even call it a news paper. To people who think train drivers earn too much money, would they want the responsibility for driving a vehicle that could kill 1000's of people if something went badly wrong?

Very good, and accurate!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

Although to add it's also what we do.

Absolutely. Knowing the route well enough to be aware of precisely where you are in the pitch dark, in fog so thick you can barely see the tracks passing under the nose of the train, putting the brake in at 125mph and feeling it start to slide is the “business end” of the job.

Also the relentless pressure to get things right first time 100% of the time. There is no undo button!
 

Falcon1200

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Same with certain railway control and incident response roles. A good manager will be pleased to walk in and see the staff playing board games and drinking tea, because they know the railway is running well.

Indeed, and as with many railway roles there are the additional issues of shift work and antisocial hours; Plus, for train Drivers, coping with the all too frequent tragic incidents on the track.
 

winks

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The telegraph article made me laugh. The train driver talked about being 38 and on £100K as a train driver. Owned his owned property and had £50,000 in ISAs !

Where do I sign up.
 

Krokodil

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The telegraph article made me laugh. The train driver talked about being 38 and on £100K as a train driver. Owned his owned property and had £50,000 in ISAs !

Where do I sign up.
He looked closer to 58 in the photos. Clearly sleeping at the depot in order to hammer every last RD and Sunday had taken its toll.
 
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