In the Cab: Southern
RAIL EXPRESS (RE): You started your career on the railways (on an industrial student placement as a steward with InterCity Onboard Services in BR days). What drew you back, and why, as a driver for Southern?
ANDY JOHNSON (AJ): After doing different things in the travel and hospitality industry, I originally applied when I saw an ad for a driver with South West Trains while I was living in Portsmouth, but I chickened out as I had quite a good job in sales. It’s one of those things I regretted ever since, but I went on to become airline cabin crew, which I did for around 10 years. And then one day I thought: I’m going to do something about addressing that regret. By then I’d moved to Brighton and went onto the Southern website and was pleased to find an ad for train drivers based at Brighton. However… the applications closed the very next day. So I hastily cancelled plans with friends and managed to get my application in just before the deadline.
RE: How long did the process take for you?
It was
