Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi
In July i will be partaking in the annual work experince week with my school.
I was hoping i might be able to do it with FGW at EXD. Can anyone give me any useful names, numbers or adresses to contact.
Thanks
Ollieb

I guess Ollie might be able to advise, but as a first point of contact you might try contacting FGW customer relations - they may not have the answers immediately but should be able to direct you to the appropriate person. This assumes of course, that FGW does actually accept students on work experience placements - have you checked this?

if your on facebook and would like a fast reply look for the first great western fan page, you normally get a very fast reply

Ive seen people at EXD before so im hoping so and what are the numbers i need to contact ?

Another idea is to write a letter to Sharon Johnston, FGW Head of Human Resources in Swindon. Whilst you'll probably not get a direct response from her, whoever replies should at least be able to let you know whether it is possible to do work experience with FGW and tell you what you and your school need to do to further an application.

First Great Western
Milford House
1 Milford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HL

A quick Google search would give you the answer ;)

For customer relations the telephone number is 08457 000 125 (0700 - 2200 daily), the address is

Customer Services Team
First Great Western
Freepost SWB40576
Plymouth
PL4 6ZZ

To be honest I'd write to Swindon in the first instance.  Customer Relations at Plymouth get bogged down in "my train was late/cancelled/overcrowded/the wrong way round/dirty etc etc"

The posters at the relevant stations show who is in charge there. My suggestion would be to contact them rather than anyone at Swindon. The local managers will have the relevant knowledge to help you.

I'd advise you to contact local manager.

As far as I'm aware FGW don't have an actual work experience scheme in place - but I have known of people being allowed to shadow at a station.

The only issue you may have is you might not be able to actually do much that is too involved due to age restrictions for doing work on the railway.

But I do wish you luck :)

Having recently completed Work Experience at Plymouth Station earlier in the year, I can confirm that your best bet is to speak to the Station Manager direct as the programme is generally dealt with in-house at the station.

Throughout my week I conducted severel roles including Assisting Passengers with booked assistants, train preperation, gateline, ticket office and also various roles on the platform (You will NOT complete any roles which staff require additional training for saftey purposes, such as Dispatch)

Good Luck! :)

Thank you, Louis94, for that reply from someone who has been at the coalface, as it were, doing work experience with FGW.

 ;) :D ;D

Apropos of nothing, back in 1988 I did my work experience at the Castle Hotel in Taunton. A certain Gary Rhodes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Rhodes) was my boss for the two weeks. I prepared starters on a lunch menu for Michael Winner and Joan Collins....

Thanks Everyone I will go to EXD in the next few weeks and speak to someone down there  :)

That's the way fella! See you soon :-)   Another way in, albeit for slightly older wouldbes, is by becoming a peak time Luggage Assist.  We have had a few of these guys on trains in the west and they are invaluable. Again, speak to station managers i think.

Agreed: in any such case, the best approach is to seek out the local management at your preferred station.

They can then make an initial evaluation of your suitability, and recommend you for any possible roles if they think you're an appropriate candidate.

CfN.  ;)

I believe Stuart McLay is the station manager at Exd, St Davids station, Bonhay Road, Exeter EX4 2NT.

Someone I went to college with did Work Experience with FGW alongside a college vocational course or something similar over a year. Infact I was speaking to him a couple of weeks ago and he's just been taken back on for work experience at BRI.

I would recommend what others have suggested and speak with the local station manager, as per Vacman's post ;)

Best of luck!

Vacman has nearly finished HIS work experience ;D

Well an update i went down and was advised to write a letter, so i did and got a reply today saying that i was accepted for work experience for a week in july 2012  :)

Well done, ollie b!  :)

Awesome well done Ollie :)

Isn't Weymouth the best place to be next July?  :P

I'm sure you'll have an excellent time at Exeter though.  ;D

Thankyou all  :)

Well done ollie b ;) ;D