Should train drivers require a driving licence?

[Horizon22]

I could not disagree more. You do not "bring a train off depot" when you depart a station. Bringing a train off depot is a non passenger movement from a stabling location. You may think that is well understood terminology but you would be wrong; this is entirely alien to the railway in the North for instance.

We are really talking about semantics here! It’s the same thing - getting to the place that you book on for the booked time. This is generally known as your “crew depot”, but other terms are fine.

Also if you are taking the train from the station, unless the stock is outberthed, another driver is still taking the train “off depot”.

You claim that my premise is wrong, but then go on to describe exactly the reasons why it is correct! If I am a GWR driver it is of no consequence to me whatsoever how I get from Paddington to North Pole! Coming back to your original post:

Sure but you still have to get to Paddington!

The fact there are no buses near the rolling stock depot is irrelevant, the question is whether the driver can reliably get to the traincrew depot, and you have totally ignored the possibility that someone is able to walk or cycle to their signing on point.

I haven’t ignored anything. I said it may well be preferable to have a car, As otherwise it substantially decreases the distance you can live from work (albeit reduced anyway with normally the max 60 mins), which is particularly true in London and other city centre locations with higher cost of living. If you can walk / cycle great but I would be pretty confident this is a small minority of people at most crew depots for the extreme starts and finishes. A book on at ~0700 until ~1600 is more feasible

I’m all in favour of sustainable travel to work but when you are potentially starting work before 0400, or finishing after 0100, options are limited unless you live pretty close.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Oct 2025 ==

The distance to the depot or changing the taxis?

Having the option of a taxi from your home address. Also the distance seems a bit extreme but not unheard of at more rural sites, or crew depots placed “strategically” on the network but not near stabling locations.

 

[Krokodil]

Some posters are really going off on a tangent.

What matters is that it is the individual's responsibility to get themselves to and from their signing on point at any hour of the day (unless some form of accommodated roster has been agreed, for example for childcare reasons) and so long as they do so reliably and they aren't at risk of fatigue (if they were driving two hours each way for example) it should not be the business of the employer how they achieve it.

I've heard of some American employers (anything from fast food to office work) who insist that their employees drive to work because cycling or indeed using public transport is seen as "for the poors" there. Not the sort of snobbery I'd like to see here

 

[Wolfie]

I'd be quite happy having it as a requirement for new starters if we could opt-out of company-funded taxis and drive company pool cars instead, as part of a productivity-related pay deal. There would of course have to be a derogation for people who were already in the company who didn't have driving licences and an option for taxis (with a reduced salary) for staff who got a driving ban.

Be very careful about insurance. All of the Civil Service trades unions advised against driving pool or hire cars for exactly that reason. Full business use insurance - at your expense - was demanded for using your own vehicle too.