Drivers: Feedback during passout week

[Only165s]

Hi all,

A question for some of the newly qualified drivers.

At your TOC, During your passout/qualification assessment, were you given feedback as the week (or so) progressed? It’s seems like the alternative is to not give you an idea at all how you are doing, but that sounds like torturous way to spend such a long period of time.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SiTheTrainGuy]

I passed out last month and the DTM I had assessing me was very fair. At the end of each day they let me know what went well and areas I could improve on (which I made sure he saw on the following days). All in all it was a very mentally draining and intense week, but a fair and proper grilling!

 

[43066]

Hi all,

A question for some of the newly qualified drivers.

At your TOC, During your passout/qualification assessment, were you given feedback as the week (or so) progressed? It’s seems like the alternative is to not give you an idea at all how you are doing, but that sounds like torturous way to spend such a long period of time.

Thanks in advance!

Hopefully you should be able to tell for yourself how it’s going! Mine was very relaxed and really just ticking a box.

Put another way, if the person passing you out is having to intervene or instruct you in any way, that’s a bad sign. They should be simply watching you drive and asking you route/traction questions.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Feb 2025 ==

I passed out last month and the DTM I had assessing me was very fair. At the end of each day they let me know what went well and areas I could improve on (which I made sure he saw on the following days). All in all it was a very mentally draining and intense week, but a fair and proper grilling!

Congrats on the pass out!

 

[Horizon22]

Hopefully you should be able to tell for yourself how it’s going! Mine was very relaxed and really just ticking a box.

Put another way, if the person passing you out is having to intervene or instruct you in any way, that’s a bad sign. They should be simply watching you drive and asking you route/traction questions.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Feb 2025 ==

Indeed. I think this goes for any trainee in any role going to "pass out" or become fully competent. Essentially they should be able to do the job with no intervention by that point with specific and tailored questions used by the assessor/trainer for less routine areas or for scenarios less easily replicable day-to-day.

 

[AverageJoe]

I don’t think it’s any secret.

By pass out week everyone should be well versed in route knowledge, traction knowledge and rule book knowledge and you should be able to drive confidently not needing any assistance.

After a year of more training one should really know how the pass out is going in my opinion.

Of course it is helpful to ask at the end what one could improve on, but that should have all been happening throughout the training process with the DI and also ride outs with the manager.

 

[43066]

After a year of more training one should really know how the pass out is going in my opinion.

The manager having to hit a plunger to prevent a SPAD on a pass out is one horror story from my last place . Extraordinary, but it does happen.

People in that position (ie not cut out for the job) should have been told earlier that there are issues, and given every chance to rectify them. If they can’t, the final assessment can be the opportunity for assessors/management to gain the evidence they need to exit them from the grade.

Some still seem to slip through the net (and why they are recruited in the first place is another question, of course). It becomes a nightmare for everyone concerned when they’re out on their own and keep dropping clangers.

 

[AverageJoe]

The manager having to hit a plunger to prevent a SPAD is one horror story from my last place . Extraordinary, but it does happen.

People in that position (ie not cut out for the job) should have been told earlier that there are issues, and given every chance to rectify them. If they can’t, the final assessment can be the opportunity for assessors/management to gain the evidence they need to exit them from the grade.

Some still seem to slip through the net (and why they are recruited in the first place is another question, of course). It becomes a nightmare for everyone concerned when they’re out on their own and keep dropping clangers.

I mean that’s pretty poor but but it’s rare and shouldn’t be allowed to get to that point.

Of course even qualified drivers with years of driving and no issues can still have a spad.

But the point I made I still stand by, a driver at the stage of pass out should know the job well enough to know how it’s going.

Really it shouldn’t be a test at all, it should just be a driver turning up to work as normal and doing what they do each day. That’s how I approached it.

(What I mean by the last statement is that it shouldn’t feel like a test, it should just feel like you are turning up to work)

 

[43066]

Of course even qualified drivers with years of driving and no issues can still have a spad.

Oh absolutely. A qualified driver who was recruited by my current TOC banjaxed some grids while he was with a DI (amongst other major issues) and ended up being asked to resign.

Some absolute whoppers still make it into the driver grade, despite how oversubscribed the trainee jobs are.

Really it shouldn’t be a test at all, it should just be a driver turning up to work as normal and doing what they do each day. That’s how I approached it.

(What I mean by the last statement is that it shouldn’t feel like a test, it should just feel like you are turning up to work)

Completely agree.

 

[Only165s]

Thanks all!

 

[357]

Put another way, if the person passing you out is having to intervene or instruct you in any way, that’s a bad sign. They should be simply watching you drive and asking you route/traction questions.

Agreed, however there have been cases of absolute whoppers making it into the management grades due to their inability to drive trains to the required standard.

At my last place, I had to ask a manager once to stop with the sound effects coming towards buffers. I was doing 6mph over the grids.

 

[officewalla]

The only feedback I got was to keep doing what you are doing which was enough to realise that it was going OK.

 

[scotraildriver]

If the manager is sitting taking notes , talking about football and holidays and asking a few questions it's going well.

If he's asking you to put the brake on its going badly.

 

[12LDA28C]

Different TOCs have slightly different final assessment processes but you’ll certainly get feedback whether verbal or written or both. You’ll certainly be left in no doubt if you’ve failed a route assessment or similar, that’s for sure.