Jenny Duff
Train Driver, Virgin West Coast
Train Driver, Virgin West Coast
“My office desk is the driving cab of a 125mph train. The views are constantly changing so I definitely wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
Jenny is one of 63 Virgin West Coast drivers based at Liverpool Lime Street. Trained to drive the operator’s fleet of Class 390 Pendolinos or Class 221 SuperVoyagers, she can be found at the controls of services between London Euston and Merseyside or the North Wales coast.
Having graduated in geography from Edge Hill University, she joined the rail industry in 2011 as a guard with Merseyrail. It was there that she became a driver, before being recruited by VWC in September 2017.
“I can safely say that when I was growing up it was never my dream to become a train driver. After I’d finished university I worked in a cinema, but I had a friend who was a train guard and she persuaded me to join Merseyrail.
“I was a guard for a year and a half before I became a driver, and then an operational training manager for other drivers.
“I don’t think you need a degree to become a train driver, but I do think it taught me how to be focused and disciplined, so it probably did open some doors for me.”
Jenny says there are many benefits to being a driver, not least the remuneration package she receives, discounted travel on the national network and a generous holiday allowance.
She is never required to work on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, and her shift pattern means that she is given ten rest days off every fifth working week.
She says that the only negative is that she is not a morning person, which makes her 0230 wake-up calls sometimes difficult when she is on early shifts.
“It takes a certain type of person to do this job. You have to be focused and you have to concentrate for long periods of time, but I would tell people to go for it if they have a desire to drive trains for a living.
“There are lots of benefits, like having a decent pension and being quite well paid, but shift work can sometimes go for or against you. The alarm going off stupidly early is never a good thing and it can be frustrating when you miss out on bank holidays, or doing things in the evening with your friends or family so, like many things, it can be good and bad.
“As it’s a safety-critical role we always have a minimum of 12 hours between shifts and a long rest every fifth week, which is pretty good.” What about people with families? “We can swap our leave if people ever need half-term off to be with their kids. Having children and doing this job can be a challenge but it’s definitely not impossible, as we’re always helping each other out.”
It’s just as well that Jenny gets a generous holiday allowance and lots of rest days as her passion is to travel the world. She is also a bit
“It takes a certain type of person to do this job. You have to be focused”
of a petrolhead, and has been known to race Porsches at racetracks in the UK and abroad. Last year she fulfilled a dream to drive a Ford Mustang on the USA’s Interstate Highway system, and she plans to take her Porsche Boxster S to Germany this summer to drive on the autobahns and the Nürburgring.
“I love cars, holidays and travelling, so if you can combine them all then that’s all to the good, and this job lets me do just that.” n