People forget it's shift work'

Rail firms struggle to recruit drivers despite £70k salaries

- Gwyn Topham

The pay of few professions has aroused as much ire as that of train drivers: earning an average of nearly £70,000 a year, going on strike to demand more and not even having to steer. But if it really is such a cushy number, why doesn't Britain have enough drivers - and what does it take to join them?

Driver shortages have become a leading cause of disruption on Britain's railways; about seven out of eight "p-coded" cancellations - made the night before travel - are down to a missing driver.

Parts of the timetable still rely on drivers working voluntary overtime. And looming too is a potential mass exodus, with thousands of staff recruited in boom years approaching retirement.

That prompted the government this week to announce that it was changing the rules to allow 18-year-olds to start driving trains - two years under the legal minimum now. But as job adverts for Northern railway show, driving may not be quite the money for old rope that some headlines imply.

The training salary of £26,000 rises to £62,000 in three years; but the attributes required include "diligence and moral courage", "zero tolerance for drugs and alcohol" and "exceptional concentration skills within a low-stimulus environment" - not to mention 3am starts.

Still, the Department for Transport wants at least 5,000 more drivers and hopes that gen Z will be providing them. According to the ministry, nearly half of qualified drivers are over the age of 50 and only 3% are under 30.

In the East Midlands Railway training centre, around the back of Derby station, the recruits are typically later-life career changers, including some working in different roles in the railway.