West Midlands Trains (inc. LNWR) - Trainee Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[tadhg1999]

Thanks for that - I’ve been reading up as much as I can here. I always wonder what the ‘correct’ answer is with those kind of tests where there are multiple statements, espeically the personality ones. The last I did for XC asked questions related to ‘convincing audiences in creative writing’ work. Interesting lol

 

[cwww]

Does anyone have any idea when we’ll hear back?

 

[tadhg1999]

Just done the tests - they were really easy and are pretty logical and self explanatory. It said within the WMR email that they would get back to candidates within two weeks of the deadline for the tests which is 6th Dec. Good luck all!

 

[Tcastle15]

They were quite simple not much to them, they give you a brief example before each assessment.

Anything worth reviewing prior to taking them? And were any of them timed assessments?

 

[cwww]

Anything worth reviewing prior to taking them? And were any of them timed assessments?

Nope just open it up and each section is explained with no time limit, they advise each part takes 5 minutes on average but if you need longer you aren’t penalised.

 

[Tcastle15]

Nope just open it up and each section is explained with no time limit, they advise each part takes 5 minutes on average but if you need longer you aren’t penalised.

Brilliant thank you for that

 

[tadhg1999]

As said above there’s no time limit, you can take as long as you like. There are some example situational judgement test questions you can find online. Basically these are where you are presented with a scenario and asked to rank the responses from 1-4, 1 being the most appropriate. I found them to be really quite self explanatory, I also appreciate WMR say we will receive a response within two weeks of the deadline. Good luck all!

 

[cwww]

Brilliant thank you for that

No worries good luck

 

[Harrjimm]

Ah ok. I’ve done spatial awareness and personality based tests for XC before, the former was very difficult, so just want to give myself the best chance of passing them. Had anyone here completed them yet? The email states four tests which are:

MR-KQ	West Midlands Railway: More about you
WMR-PQ	West Midlands Railway: Preference Questions
WMR-TB-DT	West Midlands Railway: Priorities - Driving Tasks
WMR-SJT	West Midlands Railway: Situational Judgement

Hi, I can see you posted the above! I have the same email and just wanted to know more about these 4 assessments. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Teather]

Hey, just wanted to let people know, if you're working on the 7days from the deadline to here back, don't stress out if you don't here Friday or Monday. They messed up my reasonable adjustment, and so I got a 2-day extension until today. Thanks so much for the thread, though, it helped me out

 

[cwww]

Will the next stage with the OPC include the MMI?

 

[Harjam11]

Hi Everyone.

Hopefully some of you experts can help with the requirement process/timeline for a trainee driver with West Midlands trains Coventry.

I applied for the role in October 2025 and was successfully invited to carry out the OPC psychometric testing at the start of December. The deadline was 6th December, to which I completed on the 3rd.

Thanks all

 

[Unobrow]

Hi Everyone.

Hopefully some of you experts can help with the requirement process/timeline for a trainee driver with West Midlands trains Coventry.

I applied for the role in October 2025 and was successfully invited to carry out the OPC psychometric testing at the start of December. The deadline was 6th December, to which I completed on the 3rd.

Thanks all

You’re at the mercy of their recruitment timeline. Railway TOC recruitment is a drawn out process, usually to a talent pool so don’t expect things to move quickly.

 

[Trainguy1997]

Hi everyone, I’ve already passed the Opc Stage 1 and 2 with chiltern. Ive now been invited to an OPC twst with WMT. Does anyone know the extra test i will have to sit? As the materials sent to me are the pretty much the same as chilterns.

 

[Brickz]

Hi everyone, I’ve already passed the Opc Stage 1 and 2 with chiltern. Ive now been invited to an OPC twst with WMT. Does anyone know the extra test i will have to sit? As the materials sent to me are the pretty much the same as chilterns.

If you reply to their email that's invited you it and ask for them to confirm which test or tests your required to do they will check and let you know.

 

[TTD31]

Hi everyone, I’ve already passed the Opc Stage 1 and 2 with chiltern. Ive now been invited to an OPC twst with WMT. Does anyone know the extra test i will have to sit? As the materials sent to me are the pretty much the same as chilterns.

DFFT

 

[Harjam11]

Has anyone received any updates yet after completing the OPC SJT?

 

[Trains101]

Is the next stage after the online tests OPC? Have these emails come out to start OPC or not?

 

[Harjam11]

I’ve yet to receive mine. The email stated 2 weeks from the 6th December. So hopefully by the end of next week

 

[cwww]

Has anyone received any updates yet after completing the OPC SJT?

I’m still waiting too!

 

[Henry01]

I had applied for the Wolverhampton driver role. Applications had to be in for Dec 6th. Got an email last week to say been unsuccessful, which is the quickest I've heard back from any of the applications.
I see this morning they are now advertising for Birmingham. I wonder if they pulled the Wolverhampton role and relisted it as Birmingham?
Did anyone else apply for Wolverhampton? Have you heard back yet?
Will I still be able to apply for Birmingham if I was unsuccessful for the Wolverhampton role? I think I can yes?

 

[traintee]

You have to wait 6 months between applications, I enquired regarding this via email.

 

[jaybon92]

You have to wait 6 months between applications, I enquired regarding this via email.

This is crap, I applied for bletchley and got rejected after a couple weeks. I seen that someone emailed them about another location and they added another one to their application

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Dec 2025 ==

This is crap, I applied for bletchley and got rejected after a couple weeks. I seen that someone emailed them about another location and they added another one to their application

Im going to try apply for the birmingham one and see what happens

 

[traintee]

That's surprising as it specifically states you can't have applications in for multiple depots.

 

[jaybon92]

That's surprising as it specifically states you can't have applications in for multiple depots.

I know. I wanted to find out why I got rejected because if it was commute times then I would be raging. I emailed them with the predicament that I applied for bletchley then later saw Coventry was up whichbis slightly closer. Never heard back

 

[traintee]

I think they had (in their opinion) better candidates, or internals. I was rejected for LMS and I have my OPC passes and also safety critical role on the railway currently. I do find it frustrating the 6 months rule as I didn't take any tests for them at all got rejected at the first stage... I guess their policy is if you weren't good enough then you need time to come back and be a better proposition.

 

[sebncfc123]

Not sure if anyone can help. I applied for a train driver role with WMR in January and sat stage one OPC in august. Passed the basic standard but not the enhanced one for WMR. Can I apply for the role again or not? Not sure where I stand in terms of doing the opc again so soon?

 

[traintee]

I believe you would have to wait 12 months if it was your first time.

 

[sebncfc123]

Thanks for getting back to me I have applied again anyway just to see if I get anywhere so will wait and see what happens

 

[Undiscovered]

Not sure if anyone can help. I applied for a train driver role with WMR in January and sat stage one OPC in august. Passed the basic standard but not the enhanced one for WMR. Can I apply for the role again or not? Not sure where I stand in terms of doing the opc again so soon?

If you have a full suite of passes,albeit not at enhanced, there's nothing stopping you applying for other TOCs/FOCs, and getting your key that way.