Northern - Trainee Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

mbonner020202 · Sunday at 18:04

Luke 123 said:
Hi

I completed my Maki test for Northern today. When I was completing the test, I encountered a lot of problems. The first was when I was doing the perceptual test. It would not allow me to go to the next question. For this I had to keep going back to the previous question and then try moving forward. This I had to do a few times before it let me move on.

Then when I went on to both the resilience and safety test, the button to move to the next page kept spooling and I didn’t go back this time, I had to wait. I got so frustrated that I got my phone and recorded the problems. To move to the next question, it took me over a minute.

I know that I need to contact Maki and Northern, but I would like advice on who to contact first and if anyone had anything similar.

I got results back and it was low

Thanks

With there only being 72houts to complete the test as the email stated, I got the email at 15:09 so I suspected it being 72hours from then, if you’ve done it today at a guess you may of been on the time limit for having it completed before the cut off perhaps?

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juspassingby · Sunday at 18:27

Luke 123 said:
Hi

I completed my Maki test for Northern today. When I was completing the test, I encountered a lot of problems. The first was when I was doing the perceptual test. It would not allow me to go to the next question. For this I had to keep going back to the previous question and then try moving forward. This I had to do a few times before it let me move on.

Then when I went on to both the resilience and safety test, the button to move to the next page kept spooling and I didn’t go back this time, I had to wait. I got so frustrated that I got my phone and recorded the problems. To move to the next question, it took me over a minute.

I know that I need to contact Maki and Northern, but I would like advice on who to contact first and if anyone had anything similar.

I got results back and it was low

Thanks

Sounds like an Internet connection issue, either from their end or yours

I'd contact Northern's recruitment team if I were you

bez_za · Sunday at 20:49

r.t.hollingwor said:
Just got my final offer for Trainee Driver at Sheffield, starting 12/10/26 Contract to arrive in the next 5 days! Anyone else starting in Leeds for training?

I will be starting on the 12th. Looking forward to it now.

Luke 123 · Sunday at 22:44

juspassingby said:
Sounds like an Internet connection issue, either from their end or yours

I'd contact Northern's recruitment team if I were you

Thanks. As instructed on the assessment site, I have emailed candidates@maki and also northern .

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Sunday at 22:46 ==

mbonner020202 said:
With there only being 72houts to complete the test as the email stated, I got the email at 15:09 so I suspected it being 72hours from then, if you’ve done it today at a guess you may of been on the time limit for having it completed before the cut off perhaps?

Thanks
My 72 hours were going to end at 15:05 today, but I started it at 08:00 this morning..

Anis · Monday at 02:04

Hi everyone,
I recently applied for the Trainee Train Driver position with Northern and unfortunately didn’t meet the benchmark for the Maki assessment. I scored 51%.
I wasn’t prepared for the assessment to be like that. A retired train driver I spoke to had told me there would be some maths, ratios, percentages and verbal reasoning, so I prepared mainly for those areas. The actual assessment was very different from what I expected.
I’d like to apply again after the six-month period and be much better prepared next time.
Could anyone please recommend a good website, app or practice course that is actually close to the Northern Maki assessment, especially for the perceptual/error-checking, safety and resilience sections?
Any advice or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Jamie195 · Monday at 15:22

r.t.hollingwor said:
Just got my final offer for Trainee Driver at Sheffield, starting 12/10/26 Contract to arrive in the next 5 days! Anyone else starting in Leeds for training?

I will be on the same training course, can't wait!

PBOC0000 · Monday at 20:32

Luke 123 said:
Hi

I completed my Maki test for Northern today. When I was completing the test, I encountered a lot of problems. The first was when I was doing the perceptual test. It would not allow me to go to the next question. For this I had to keep going back to the previous question and then try moving forward. This I had to do a few times before it let me move on.

Then when I went on to both the resilience and safety test, the button to move to the next page kept spooling and I didn’t go back this time, I had to wait. I got so frustrated that I got my phone and recorded the problems. To move to the next question, it took me over a minute.

I know that I need to contact Maki and Northern, but I would like advice on who to contact first and if anyone had anything similar.

I got results back and it was low

Thanks

How low did you score, have they said about a repeat due to the faults?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Monday at 20:35 ==

Jamie195 said:
I will be on the same training course, can't wait!

bez_za said:
I will be starting on the 12th. Looking forward to it now.

Did you pass the psychometric test already then

Bxzza · Monday at 21:02

r.t.hollingwor said:
Just got my final offer for Trainee Driver at Sheffield, starting 12/10/26 Contract to arrive in the next 5 days! Anyone else starting in Leeds for training?

I start my training for Sheffield depot, 12/10/26 looks like we are on the same course.

PBOC0000 · Monday at 21:39

r.t.hollingwor said:
Just got my final offer for Trainee Driver at Sheffield, starting 12/10/26 Contract to arrive in the next 5 days! Anyone else starting in Leeds for training?

Did you already do the psychometric test

juspassingby · Monday at 23:02

PBOC0000 said:
Did you already do the psychometric test

Yeah mate, they wouldn't get a verbal offer if they didn't pass psychometrics.. Right now Northern is doing some background checks such a work history, DBS etc and if everything is OK then they'll recieve a written contract to sign.

MH117 · 2026-09-01T10:11:49+0100

Anis said:
Hi everyone,
I recently applied for the Trainee Train Driver position with Northern and unfortunately didn’t meet the benchmark for the Maki assessment. I scored 51%.
I wasn’t prepared for the assessment to be like that. A retired train driver I spoke to had told me there would be some maths, ratios, percentages and verbal reasoning, so I prepared mainly for those areas. The actual assessment was very different from what I expected.
I’d like to apply again after the six-month period and be much better prepared next time.
Could anyone please recommend a good website, app or practice course that is actually close to the Northern Maki assessment, especially for the perceptual/error-checking, safety and resilience sections?
Any advice or links would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The ‘rejection’ email didn’t actually specify a timeframe before you can apply again for the same position. . But when I fell short during the interview person assessment day the email said to wait 12 months

Aj690 · 2026-09-01T11:32:53+0100

Has anyone who has ‘met the threshold’ form making test heard anything yet?

juspassingby · 2026-09-01T12:48:22+0100

Aj690 said:
Has anyone who has ‘met the threshold’ form making test heard anything yet?

When did pass it? They usually contact you within 7 days, depending on how busy it is. In my case they contacted me within 12 hours, maybe cause not many people were passing back then.

tiptoptaff · 2026-09-01T12:49:11+0100

I got a call this morning, been waiting about 3 weeks

BishaCD · 2026-09-01T14:22:18+0100

I passed my psychometrics in January but no courses until middle to end of next year which is going to put me 18 months from passing my test to starting a course in the best case scenario. Does anyone know how possible it is to contact another TOC and see if they'd accept me onto a course sooner?

PBOC0000 · 2026-09-01T15:33:37+0100

.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 15:35 ==

tiptoptaff said:
I got a call this morning, been waiting about 3 weeks

How long did the whole process take you from applying to getting the start date?

GPR · 2026-09-01T17:45:40+0100

BishaCD said:
I passed my psychometrics in January but no courses until middle to end of next year which is going to put me 18 months from passing my test to starting a course in the best case scenario. Does anyone know how possible it is to contact another TOC and see if they'd accept me onto a course sooner?

You’d have to see if there available vacancies, apply, go through their sift with your CV and their application questions answered to what they want , and then pass their own next stage tests.

Just because you have valid psychometrics doesn’t mean anything.

No harm in trying though if you can get a direct email to the TOCs recruitment.

juspassingby · 2026-09-01T19:19:56+0100

BishaCD said:
I passed my psychometrics in January but no courses until middle to end of next year which is going to put me 18 months from passing my test to starting a course in the best case scenario. Does anyone know how possible it is to contact another TOC and see if they'd accept me onto a course sooner?

Who did you pass with? If its Avanti/Great Western then you could be waiting for 2 years or more.

If its Northern/Southern, usually start within 6 months.. unless you didn't do so well in your interview, that's when you get put into a talent pool

tiptoptaff · 2026-09-01T19:30:45+0100

PBOC0000 said:
.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 15:35 ==

How long did the whole process take you from applying to getting the start date?

I dont have a start date. I was replying to the question about assessments

bez_za · 2026-09-01T19:35:13+0100

PBOC0000 said:
How low did you score, have they said about a repeat due to the faults?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Monday at 20:35 ==

Did you pass the psychometric test already then

I passed my psychometrics back in Jan. My original app was from September 25. So 13-months from app to course date.

cheztoi · 2026-09-01T20:13:50+0100

I am jumping on this here to ask some questions now too. I recently got the first initial successful email for the trainee driver role on Friday just gone.

It said to sit tight and wait for an email for the maki test. How long is normal to wait for this link? I was wondering due to the fact it's been bank holiday weekend.

As a side note, is there any real decent ways to best prepare for the MAKI test or is it one of those where you can't really practice per se

Adam Bezance · 2026-09-01T20:51:30+0100

r.t.hollingwor said:
Just got my final offer for Trainee Driver at Sheffield, starting 12/10/26 Contract to arrive in the next 5 days! Anyone else starting in Leeds for training?

I'm starting the same date in Leeds.

Has anyone done training in Leeds for Darlington? The driving travel time from Depot to training is right on the cusp of the 1.5 hours. I wondered what the accommodation situation was with it being this close to the cut off

Bxzza · 2026-09-01T21:11:32+0100

Adam Bezance said:
I'm starting the same date in Leeds.

Has anyone done training in Leeds for Darlington? The driving travel time from Depot to training is right on the cusp of the 1.5 hours. I wondered what the accommodation situation was with it being this close to the cut off

Would have thought you would be put up in a hotel I am fairly sure guards from darlington were put up in one a few years ago, I have received my contract today and it mentions they will be in touch again to sort out any accommodation if needed.

SiTheTrainGuy · 2026-09-01T23:13:52+0100

Adam Bezance said:
I'm starting the same date in Leeds.

Has anyone done training in Leeds for Darlington? The driving travel time from Depot to training is right on the cusp of the 1.5 hours. I wondered what the accommodation situation was with it being this close to the cut off

We had two lads from Darlo on our course and they travelled in each day, but not sure if that was by choice. They used to get the train in.

cpwaters · 2026-09-02T00:33:49+0100

I applied to Northern last year after completing my Psychometrics (put forward by XC and passed to enhanced level), no Maki test but failed the DMI.
Is there a DMI now or has it been replaced by the Maki tests? I've not seen anyone talk about DMI's for a while and am at Maki stage on my new application.

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