Freightliner - Trainee Drivers (05/12/22)

[PNutt]

Completely agree with above post, 6 months ago they wanted 105% drivers at all depots in an attempt to get rid of harmonisation.

Now all of a sudden there’s talk of redundancies in the new year, moving all drivers to HH T&Cs (which has been a long term ambition for FL anyway) and the yanks are over doing an audit in the next couple of weeks.

Of course its all come off the rumour mill, but if true I can’t see there being any new courses starting this year for sure.

 

[tiptoptaff]

Probably isn't good news for you all in pools, but I applied for a qualified vacancy recently and I got in touch personally with one of the driver managers I know, and he told me there's a company-wide driver recruitment freeze.

Day or so later all the ongoing qualified drive vacancies were taken down and my application marked as "vacancy withdrawn"

Fingers crossed for you all it changes soon. But from what I've heard, I'd be looking elsewhere if you can

 

[Kbendle]

Would applying elsewhere affect my position in the pool? I wouldn’t want to jeopardise that as they have put me down as priority for when training recommences as I was one of the trainees that should have been starting next week

 

[tiptoptaff]

Would applying elsewhere affect my position in the pool? I wouldn’t want to jeopardise that as they have put me down as priority for when training recommences as I was one of the trainees that should have been starting next week

Only if you got a job elsewhere and left the pool mate.

Its quite common. With other TOCs/FOCs you'd go straight to DMI

 

[Aspen90]

Unfortunately I’ve heard the same from a driver there already. He advised that the finances aren’t great at the minute. There isn’t enough work for the current drivers, so there’s been a recruitment freeze for at least 12 months. Get applying elsewhere.

 

[Kbendle]

Does anyone know why the intermodal side has gone so quiet? Heavy haul seems to be quite the opposite in terms of work load

 

[tiptoptaff]

The freeze is on both sides of the business

 

[Kbendle]

I understand the freeze is both sides, I meant in terms of work load as heavy haul is booming at the moment, I live by one of the quarry branch lines and I’ve never known it to be so busy but the email I got from FL when they withdrew my job offer said that intermodal traffic was way down. I’m just curious as to why the work load has dropped so much for IM

 

[66701GBRF]

Container volumes are down, requiring less services and less drivers.

 

[PNutt]

I understand the freeze is both sides, I meant in terms of work load as heavy haul is booming at the moment, I live by one of the quarry branch lines and I’ve never known it to be so busy but the email I got from FL when they withdrew my job offer said that intermodal traffic was way down. I’m just curious as to why the work load has dropped so much for IM

Not as many containers coming into the ports means there are less containers for FL to move. Spoke to one Eastleigh driver who said the whole of Southampton container port is quiet.

 

[Miltsey!]

I’ve finally got my feedback from the Stage 1 assessment at Watford and I failed the Group Bourdon test on speed. Has anyone here failed it but then passed second time?

 

[Tb12]

I’ve finally got my feedback from the Stage 1 assessment at Watford and I failed the Group Bourdon test on speed. Has anyone here failed it but then passed second time?

I did not fail first time but I had to redo for FL enhanced level. I did pass and improve my score. I'd advise you keep practising and try and look for the shapes of the 4 dot combinations. That helped me improve my speed. This is the one test you can practice a lot so don't give up

 

[Applepie356]

I’ve finally got my feedback from the Stage 1 assessment at Watford and I failed the Group Bourdon test on speed. Has anyone here failed it but then passed second time?

Don’t know if you’ve done this already but use the GB tool. It’s like the test, print out as sheets of paper and time yourself.

Link is below:

Group Bourdon Tool

The Group Bourdon Tool link is not working at all, here is the file all scanned as at 31/10/2017 via online virus scanners ..all clear! Credits Chris Gresham Enjoy

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Miltsey!]

I did not fail first time but I had to redo for FL enhanced level. I did pass and improve my score. I'd advise you keep practising and try and look for the shapes of the 4 dot combinations. That helped me improve my speed. This is the one test you can practice a lot so don't give up

Excellent, thank you!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jul 2023 ==

Don’t know if you’ve done this already but use the GB tool. It’s like the test, print out as sheets of paper and time yourself.

Link is below:

Group Bourdon Tool

The Group Bourdon Tool link is not working at all, here is the file all scanned as at 31/10/2017 via online virus scanners ..all clear! Credits Chris Gresham Enjoy

www.railforums.co.uk

Thanks very much. I tried looking for these the other day but couldn’t find them. Thank you!