Best place to find trainee driver roles?

[CoolDriver]

Hi all,

I’ve recently decided to change careers and pursue becoming a train driver, so I’ve started looking for trainee driver opportunities.

I was wondering what the best way is to spot these vacancies when they come up. At the moment I’ve mainly been checking Google and LinkedIn.

I’ve also seen a few people recommend checking directly on the TOCs’ websites. Is that simply a case of going to each company’s careers page and searching for “Trainee Train Driver”? At the moment nothing seems to come up, which I assume just means there aren’t any vacancies currently open.

Is there a particular method people use to stay on top of new openings? For example, do you keep each TOC careers page bookmarked and regularly refresh/search for “Trainee Train Driver,” or is there a better way to catch them when they’re posted?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[jaybon92]

Hi all,

I’ve recently decided to change careers and pursue becoming a train driver, so I’ve started looking for trainee driver opportunities.

I was wondering what the best way is to spot these vacancies when they come up. At the moment I’ve mainly been checking Google and LinkedIn.

I’ve also seen a few people recommend checking directly on the TOCs’ websites. Is that simply a case of going to each company’s careers page and searching for “Trainee Train Driver”? At the moment nothing seems to come up, which I assume just means there aren’t any vacancies currently open.

Is there a particular method people use to stay on top of new openings? For example, do you keep each TOC careers page bookmarked and regularly refresh/search for “Trainee Train Driver,” or is there a better way to catch them when they’re posted?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

What i did was go to the drivers depot/sign on page (cant remember whatbits called. By the guard one) and go through all the companies and see if theres any locations near me. I then took note of the TOCs and I've kept their careers pages as tabs on my phone and check daily.

You are right if its not there then its not advertised but keep checking daily and set up Job alerts with the sites

 

[Neatro]

Tbh, I'd say the best place to find jobs is this forum.

I set up email notifications for new posts on the railway jobs part, yes you get email notifications for all new posts which can be annoying but a lot of people will post jobs the minute they're published.

That's how I found my role and a few applications before that.

Ive found the email alerts from job sites and the operators themselves to take hours if not days after they've been posted.

 

[CoolDriver]

What i did was go to the drivers depot/sign on page (cant remember whatbits called. By the guard one) and go through all the companies and see if theres any locations near me. I then took note of the TOCs and I've kept their careers pages as tabs on my phone and check daily.

You are right if its not there then its not advertised but keep checking daily and set up Job alerts with the sites

Thanks for the advice mate, will give it a go.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Mar 2026 ==

Tbh, I'd say the best place to find jobs is this forum.

I set up email notifications for new posts on the railway jobs part, yes you get email notifications for all new posts which can be annoying but a lot of people will post jobs the minute they're published.

That's how I found my role and a few applications before that.

Ive found the email alerts from job sites and the operators themselves to take hours if not days after they've been posted.

Just set it up to send emails, may be annoying but worth it to be first to apply. Thanks for the help.

 

[EuxtonNeutral]

Set up email alerts for every TOC you would consider applying for, then forget about it until your phone pings. That’s what I did. Vacancies can be extremely sporadic so you’d go mad if you kept actively checking. Also, believe the rumours about how long it takes: allow 1.5-2 years from application to start date even if you do absolutely everything right. Good luck!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Mar 2026 ==

Set up email alerts for every TOC you would consider applying for, then forget about it until your phone pings. That’s what I did. Vacancies can be extremely sporadic so you’d go mad if you kept actively checking. Also, believe the rumours about how long it takes: allow 1.5-2 years from application to start date even if you do absolutely everything right. Good luck!

PS make sure you choose broad enough search terms for the alerts, e.g. “driver”, “operations” etc

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Mar 2026 ==

Set up email alerts for every TOC you would consider applying for, then forget about it until your phone pings. That’s what I did. Vacancies can be extremely sporadic so you’d go mad if you kept actively checking. Also, believe the rumours about how long it takes: allow 1.5-2 years from application to start date even if you do absolutely everything right. Good luck!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Mar 2026 ==


PS make sure you choose broad enough search terms for the alerts, e.g. “driver”, “operations” e

then forget about it until your phone pings.

However, once you do spot one you like, get your application in quick and don’t overthink it. Apparently they can close the portal (within hours) once they’ve received enough applications).

 

[md81]

dont forget you cant go further than 45 mins to 1hr from your target depot

if youre not bothered about depot driving as opposed to passenger theres loads of london goods depots which take on trainees. I think GBRF took on 15 last summer