Questions from a (Hopeful) Newbie

Few taxis operate beyond the M25, although some areas are served.
in your direction the nearest locations are :
Ongar, Romford, Upminster.

the Staff Taxi policy is thus:

Overtime is paid at time and a quarter. How easy it is to come by may vary on which station area you get allocated, I've heard some stations are really short staffed. Select stations also advertise overtime across the combine for special events, most common is when there's stuff going on at Wembley Stadium but also events at Hyde Park, Notting Hill Carnival etc.

Your annual leave allocation takes into account that Bank Holiday working is included in the shifts, so you get extra days on top of the standard.

For question four, as far as I'm aware you are allowed to mutually swap your station(s) with others in your training group. Once you're out on the stations, you can nominate to move elsewhere but don't be too hopeful. Luck of the draw really.

It depends what you want to do, and where you want to go.

Certainly at the moment there are few promotional opportunities within stations - this is due to the effects of Fit for the Future (Stations) and the need to return all staff to their substantive grades before others can be promoted. Effectively a lot of former booking office staff are 'covering down' as a CSA when they should now be supervisors (and this carries forward to former control room assistants, supervisors and managers too) - quite rightly the company's priority is to get these people to the grade they are being paid for.

Beyond that there is a waiting list for supervisor and manager roles from a recruitment campaign eighteen months ago, but there is starting to be some movement here - a lot of it depends on what stations you want to work at. Some have larger waiting lists than others, and this isn't too dissimilar from the pre-FftF(S) world. You'll have to be patient, and don't expect it to be speedy, but there are definitely some opportunities on stations.

If you want to move on from stations there have been numerous recruitment campaigns over the last two years that have been open to CSAs, and there will no doubt be more in the months to come. This has included Train Operator (both full time and part time Night Tube), Service Operator (signaller), Line Information Specialist (a service control information-based role) and more, so there's definitely opportunities there. Most Area Managers will also support ad-hoc secondments or development opportunities if staffing numbers allow, and you've shown a willingness to knuckle down to the job.

Chelmsford seems an awful long way to commute to work - especially for shifts starting or ending in the small hours, when mainline trains are closed for the night.

I'd love to see an example CSA2 roster, too. Hopefully I'll be given a station close by to myself as I'm in London but luckily for me nowhere is *too* far.
Hope it all goes well for you, paolotee