Duncan Grainger

Said the following about Leeds and Skipton Driver Instructors:

“At Leeds and Skipton our driver instructors provide a vital gap between management and our driver teams, delivering vital training and ride outs across the network in line with our company policy. This is a difficult task in a normal environment, but during the past 18 months we have seen an unusually large turnover of drivers due to retirement and promotions which has stretched our recourses to the limit. Without the instructor team’s dedication and flexible approach to their role we would have had a near impossible task of meeting our workload, the team often sacrificed their rest day patterns to attend work and run training sessions, impacting on their social and home life. Despite this they never complained about the expectations placed upon them, taking every challenge in their stride.

During the past 18 months at Leeds and Skipton alone the team have overseen 34 trainee drivers become competent mainline drivers, delivering 2,121 route learning days as well as running 9 individual courses on traction and depot visits totalling 16 days and seeing 53 drivers through the courses in total. I believe that without the instructors working as one team, these results wouldn’t have been achievable which would have had a huge detrimental effect on our ability to deliver a punctual train plan.

Throughout these testing times the team maintained a professional attitude to their role, and enjoyed the challenges they faced. They are a focal point within our offices, and are always available to drivers who require any extra training or advice which is highly appreciated by our train crew. On behalf of the DTM team at Leeds and Skipton we would like to thank the instructors for their assistance and flexibility to help out.“