Any more people received this kind of email?
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GWR - Trainee Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion
- Thread starter JT97
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Hi, approximately an hour maybe 45mins. I genuinely couldn’t tell if it had gone well or not. They both had great poker faces. I definitely got a bit of a rapport with the DM but couldn’t have known either way.
Nice one! Congratulations mate! Hope the rest of the process goes well for you!
officewalla
Member
As with every other reply to this type of question, the answer that you seek is repeated numerous times on this forum. You just need to look and then wait!
Reactor Scram
Member
I'm starting training on 13 July for a Central Region course in Bristol. Anyone else?
For those wanting to know timelines:
I'm a Bristol Temple Meads applicant (external).
Note - already had psychometrics and MMI completed across 2024 and early 2025 courtesy of another TOC, which I'm still in the talent pool for. Unsure whether I would have ever been offered a start date.
Applied for GWR 10 Oct 25. Did 2 psychometric tests at this point. Situational judgement and error checking.
- Application with the hiring manager email on 27 Oct 2025.
- Invited to video interview 20 Nov 2025 by email (did it on 24th).
- Notified by email that passed video interview on 1 Dec 2025.
- Invite to DMI 5 Jan 2026 by email.
- DMI at Bristol Temple Meads 15 Jan 2026.
- notified by email that I passed DMI on 16 Jan 2026 and placed on the "Reserve" list.
- 19 Mar 2026 phonecall from GWR Recruitment with conditional offer pending medical, DBS etc. This was followed immediately with a conditional offer by email.
- 16 April 2026. Medical in Swindon. Told I'd passed there and then.
- 30 April 2026 phonecall from GWR Recruitment to confirm I was available to start in July.
- 13 May 2026 contract issued.
I'm aware that this timeline is fast and I'm fortunate but I have been chasing a trainee train driver job for a few years and know the feeling of being stuck in a talent pool with not much information as well as suffering setbacks in the psychometrics. My advice is whenever there is an opening with a TOC or FOC in your area then apply and give the application everything.
This thread and the forum in general is a wealth of knowledge and has been very helpful throughout this whole process for me so thank you.
If you're still waiting or in the process don't give up!
For those wanting to know timelines:
I'm a Bristol Temple Meads applicant (external).
Note - already had psychometrics and MMI completed across 2024 and early 2025 courtesy of another TOC, which I'm still in the talent pool for. Unsure whether I would have ever been offered a start date.
Applied for GWR 10 Oct 25. Did 2 psychometric tests at this point. Situational judgement and error checking.
- Application with the hiring manager email on 27 Oct 2025.
- Invited to video interview 20 Nov 2025 by email (did it on 24th).
- Notified by email that passed video interview on 1 Dec 2025.
- Invite to DMI 5 Jan 2026 by email.
- DMI at Bristol Temple Meads 15 Jan 2026.
- notified by email that I passed DMI on 16 Jan 2026 and placed on the "Reserve" list.
- 19 Mar 2026 phonecall from GWR Recruitment with conditional offer pending medical, DBS etc. This was followed immediately with a conditional offer by email.
- 16 April 2026. Medical in Swindon. Told I'd passed there and then.
- 30 April 2026 phonecall from GWR Recruitment to confirm I was available to start in July.
- 13 May 2026 contract issued.
I'm aware that this timeline is fast and I'm fortunate but I have been chasing a trainee train driver job for a few years and know the feeling of being stuck in a talent pool with not much information as well as suffering setbacks in the psychometrics. My advice is whenever there is an opening with a TOC or FOC in your area then apply and give the application everything.
This thread and the forum in general is a wealth of knowledge and has been very helpful throughout this whole process for me so thank you.
If you're still waiting or in the process don't give up!
I have been given a conditional offer of employment with a start date of 13th July over the phone.
Passed all my checks and medical and now I’m just waiting on my formal offer and contract.
I see you got yours today so hopefully not long for me to wait. Looks like we may be on the same course
Fair play to you guys. Good luck with it!
Very much depot dependent then. With their availability, vacancies etc. But it looks like recruitment hasn't halted as may have been assumed?
Reactor Scram
Member
People within the company may have some insight but I'm not sure. With the recent announcement about nationalisation, it doesn't seem like a coincidence so maybe just squeaked in.
I’m also on the 13th July course after being delayed from starting in February. My timeline was somehow really quick as I only applied March ‘25 and in theory would’ve started 11 months later! Did recruitment say where the course was?
Reactor Scram
Member
Doesn't say in anything I've received so far but I was told at the DMI that for me it'll be St Phillip's Marsh in Bristol. I think Central Region (south Wales, Bristol, Gloucester, Westbury) do it there. Not sure whether you guys for western Region are travelling up. I know there is the St Philip's Marsh school in Bristol and Reading Academy. Is there one in the south west in Plymouth or Exeter?
Where you able to take notes with you and use the information from your notes to fill out the 6 MMI questions prior to the interview itself? Thanks
RobotBen91
Member
Im in the reserve list for Exeter and was told 2026/27 vacancies have been filled so im in for that long wait, in the reserve list, you've had before! Uncertain whether the nationalisation is good or bad for reserve list waiting times. Very interesting to hear your story though. Thankfully im in a job i enjoy do that'll do me ok for the next year of waiting
Hi mate no, you get given a form at the start with the questions, you fill out a couple of lines for each example you want to talk about and then they will see if they’re suitable. They took some time looking at the subject you want to talk about and base their questions around them. It was all very relaxed and she was very supportive and will ask questions to get the best answer out of you.
Okay great thanks mate, and congrats on passing your MMI. Any other tips for the day?
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Did you also write out your examples in the star format?
Must do as I’m a Exeter driver, unless I’m getting the train to Bristol everyday lol. They said to me I’d be in Exeter or Plymouth training school so maybe they’re running 2 courses at once
Thank you. No just as previously mentioned in this thread, there’s no low ballers. No nothing like that, only writing we done was to write the example we would like to talk about and that was a line or two to set the scene.
So just to confirm you didn’t need to fill the questions out in the star format? Just a brief description on what you want to talk about? I then imagine you explain it in the interview in the star format? Sorry to be a pain, thanks mate
Reactor Scram
Member
No, yes, yes.
It's very clear on the day. Know your scenario answers for the stock questions but don't box yourself into rigid answers in your preparation otherwise you won't be able to respond well when the interview goes in different directions.
The best thing you can do from here is keep practicing saying your scenarios out loud to yourself or anyone that's happy to listen. Draw everything back to the key competencies of train driving: safety, working alone, communication, customer service etc.
If you ask too much on people's experiences with this then you'll scramble your expectations. Have your base answer ready and as they are scenarios you have lived then you'll be able to recall and justify easily enough.
Good luck.
If I remember rightly, the boxes for your answer to the question is only big enough to fit a line or two of writing in anyway. The tester on my assessment day told us to write a brief summary of our answer and then once you’re in the interview, the interviewer will ask you to expand on what you’ve written and ask you follow up questions etc…
Mate I think you’re overthinking this too much. Honestly just prepare like a normal interview and relax. They want to see how you handle being probed aswell. So you need to be able to not panic. Everyone has a different experience at the MMI.
They only want a sentence or two at the most, it's just so they can check you've picked a suitable scenario they can probe you about before the interview starts. I literally wrote one sentence for each e.g. "As a police officer I attended a road traffic collision where a child was very seriously injured". You only get a few minutes to write down the examples.
When I was answering the questions in the interview I used the STAR format and kept myself on track by actually saying "The situation was..." "The tasks I needed to complete were..." "I action I needed to do this was..." "The result was that..."
I’m in the same boat for Swansea, just awaiting the formal offer, it coming up quick though so it will be soon hopefully!
BarneyGumble
Member
The video interview is by GWR but the MMI by OPC, they won't have knowledge of what you did so it should be fine afaik
I received this email from GWR last week regarding having an MMI cancelled:
“Due to recent changes within our workforce plans and the high number of applications received for Trainee Train Driver Swansea, a decision has been made to halt the recruitment process until next year, 2027.
The Multi Model Interview, that you have scheduled with GWR has therefore been cancelled, and your application placed ‘On Hold’. “
Does anyone know what the criteria for cancelling applications at this stage for some and not others is as I know interviews are still on going?
Is it a case of not scoring higher than others at the psychometric testing stage? Or maybe as my interview was still a few weeks away they could afford to cancel mine as it wasn’t really that short notice? Or is there another reason?
“Due to recent changes within our workforce plans and the high number of applications received for Trainee Train Driver Swansea, a decision has been made to halt the recruitment process until next year, 2027.
The Multi Model Interview, that you have scheduled with GWR has therefore been cancelled, and your application placed ‘On Hold’. “
Does anyone know what the criteria for cancelling applications at this stage for some and not others is as I know interviews are still on going?
Is it a case of not scoring higher than others at the psychometric testing stage? Or maybe as my interview was still a few weeks away they could afford to cancel mine as it wasn’t really that short notice? Or is there another reason?
halfajob
Member
Unfortunately, there are thousands of applicants and when they hit their targets I guess they can close it at any time. I know that currently they are struggling for DI's in Swansea and have been using Cardiff ones to help clear the backlog of trainees.
There are also a few internal transfers that are going to Swansea at the next timetable change in the next week so even less vacancies for people.
officewalla
Member
With no Sundays in the working week agreement anywhere close to being finalised, there are too many trainees in the system and not enough work at the other end for everybody. In addition a significant number of older drivers especially are choosing to go part time rather than retire; you can thank the current government for this. if you could do 2 days a week and take your 40 year accrued pension at 60 or 62 with an income equal to or slightly better than working 4 days on the link you can see why this option is attractive to many. That is why recruitment is being cut back or paused. It is all about numbers and the numbers of drivers retiring is not what was planned for.
halfajob
Member
Exactly this. All the Hss drivers at the depot are waiting on some sort of payment for the contract changes and then they will retire. Nothing that I've seen has mentioned a payment but I've seen stranger things. When they retire we will 100% be short of drivers however it's not sustainable to keep having trainees with next to no work for them.