Kompany Car
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 19 Sep 2015
- Messages
- 4,230
The shortage of drivers stems from Covid where training stopped, you then had people retiring which left a gap. It takes about a year to get to post qualified status (classroom and practical) which you then have for a further 3 years. The other problem is drivers keeping route competence which is assessed regularly.If £70k was the stuff of dreams, why is there a shortage of drivers?
So bottom line, there is a shortage of qualified drivers at the moment. The RSSB is changing the process to shorten the training period which should start to alleviate the problem. There is certainly no shortage of applicants.
The problem overall as with many other privatised industries is they run with a bare minimum of staff. You get drivers trained by Northern for instance who as soon as they are qualified chase higher paying jobs on LNER or West Coast. As the likes of Northern dont run with a significant surplus of trained drivers it causes a shortage leading to issues covering illness, holidays and retirement/resignation.