Driver recruitment

[Flipflop243]

Hello! Maybe someone knows a little more about 5his? I have heard recently that there has been a company set up that solely deals with agency drivers? Ie: drivers who dont work for one specific toc but do work on behalf of this company for multiple tocs.? Cover duty and moving empty around
Emptys I also heard the union is not to happy about this can any one shed more light on this? Cheers

 

[Aivilo]

There was something like this in the freight sector. You could do moves for a different company freelance essentially providing you had the traction and routes. It messed with hidden so was frowned upon. Nothing like that in the passenger sector

 

[ComUtoR]

My TOC contracted out to freight a while back. The Freight Drivers were given traction training and worked a couple of days a week.

 

[sorry4thedelay]

I really hope and pray the Rail sector isnt going down the road of Agency work.
HGV industry is a mess because of this, no job security, low pay for long hours with the middle man (agency) creaming a large portion of the Drivers wage.

Ultimately the company win because they dont pay holiday, sick or pension and the agency win because of the fee. The Driver always looses (naturally it may suit some)
Every job advertised for HGV is now Agency. They tried to regulate this by saying if you work a certain number of hours for one company as agency staff you are entitled to permanent staff benefits, haven't seen it working.

Lets hope the Rail Unions hit this on the head before it starts.

 

[sw1ller]

The only company I can think of like this is ROG. (Rail Operations Group)

you’re not a train driver but a train manager. They driver 37’s round the country moving brand new or decommissioned units about. They have other duties too and I’m sure I was told they are hired by tocs to cover for sickness etc. On about £75k so good wage but it’s not secure and there’s no union.

 

[SlimJim1694]

The only company I can think of like this is ROG. (Rail Operations Group)

you’re not a train driver but a train manager. They driver 37’s round the country moving brand new or decommissioned units about. They have other duties too and I’m sure I was told they are hired by tocs to cover for sickness etc. On about £75k so good wage but it’s not secure and there’s no union.

I went for a job with ROG a couple of years ago but decided to turn it down because of how bad the conditions are. Jobs and rest days are allocated at the end of the previous week so impossible to make plans, they can mix up your shifts within a week and also have you lodging away. There's no passes, no union recognition, no railway pension etc. I get the impression the only people who go and work for them are either people who are only motivated by money or people who are only motivated by a love of railways. I've since had one of their blokes come out route refresh with me and he spent so long trying to tell me how great it was that i got the feeling the only person he was trying to convince was himself.

 

[sw1ller]

I went for a job with ROG a couple of years ago but decided to turn it down because of how bad the conditions are. Jobs and rest days are allocated at the end of the previous week so impossible to make plans, they can mix up your shifts within a week and also have you lodging away. There's no passes, no union recognition, no railway pension etc. I get the impression the only people who go and work for them are either people who are only motivated by money or people who are only motivated by a love of railways. I've since had one of their blokes come out route refresh with me and he spent so long trying to tell me how great it was that i got the feeling the only person he was trying to convince was himself.

Ive heard it’s not brilliant and I get the same impression as you. Was speaking to a driver who’s mate is there and they’re desperate to get away from the place and back on with a TOC (however, from what I can gather, they won’t ever driver for the TOC again after what happened!!) so they don’t even take on the best drivers like their website suggests.
We may be going off topic as I’m not even sure this is the company the OP was talking about. If the railways do go down the agency route, it’ll be when ERTMS is full operational (IMO)

 

[PhilTimo]

I went for a job with ROG a couple of years ago but decided to turn it down because of how bad the conditions are. Jobs and rest days are allocated at the end of the previous week

Correct

so impossible to make plans

not impossible, but flexibility required.

they can mix up your shifts within a week

Because of the nature of the beast, there are a lot of last minute changes.

and also have you lodging away.

The drivers are based from home, so yes, there is lodging away.

There's no passes,

You get Freight pass for travelling to work.

no union recognition,

if you are that desperate for Union Representation, I wouldnt go to ROG.

no railway pension etc

ROG have an excellent pension scheme in place..

I get the impression the only people who go and work for them are either people who are only motivated by money or people who are only motivated by a love of railways.

Thats your view

I've since had one of their blokes come out route refresh with me and he spent so long trying to tell me how great it was that i got the feeling the only person he was trying to convince was himself.

again, your perception.