Trainee Intercity Bus and Coach Driver

Ember; Inverness; On-site; GBP 15,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

A pioneering electric coach company is seeking professional drivers to join its team in Inverness. This trainee position offers support in obtaining a Category D PCV licence at no cost. With a starting rate of £15.00 per hour and a variety of benefits, including flexible annual leave and overtime opportunities, this is a great chance to contribute to sustainable transport while enjoying a friendly work environment. Candidates must hold a full UK Category B licence and demonstrate high-quality driving skills.

Benefits

£15.00 per hour starting rate

28 days paid annual holiday

Flexible annual leave

Free CPC renewal

Referral scheme

Qualifications

• Must be a minimum of 21 years old with a full UK Category B licence.
• Able to demonstrate high-quality driving, including smooth braking and a commitment to safety.
• Willingness to work early, late, or night shifts.

Responsibilities

• Drive the coach and maintain a safe environment for passengers.
• Be the main point of contact for customers.
• Keep the coach clean and provide a great experience for passengers.

Skills

Customer service

Driving skills

Resourcefulness

Flexibility

Education

Full UK Category B licence

Job description

Ember is the UK's first fully-electric, zero-emission coach company. We launched in October 2020 and are now running multiple routes across Scotland.

We're looking for the very best and most professional drivers across Scotland to join the Ember team and eager to support new drivers to the industry through this trainee position. Whether you have a passion for electric vehicles or simply for great customer service, we'd love to hear from you. We'll be growing a pioneering team in Inverness and it's really important to us that we find people who are truly motivated to be a keypart of a company that is proving that things can be done differently.

We're a fast growing company with a track record of success, so this is an exciting time to join the future of public transport!

Responsibilities

As a driver, you're on the front-line. Not only will you be responsible for keeping the coach moving, you'll be the main point of contact for customers if they have any issues or need help.

Our Inverness team will be a tight-knit group and will be based a little further from central functions like Engineering. For that reason, we're looking for resourceful and motivated individuals who will be solution‑focused and highly motivated to get any day to day challenges resolved.

You should enjoy working with people and take pride in doing what it takes to deliver a great experience (as well as driving of course). That might mean helping someone with their bags, keeping the coach spick and span or making an effort to say a cheery ‘hello’ when people board.

We've built lots of new technology to help ensure customers get the best experience possible. That means you'll need to be open to learning new systems and using them in the correct way.

As a small business, we put a lot of trust into our drivers. We expect you to take pride in the work that you do and this will involve light cleaning duties throughout the day to keep our coaches in top condition. We are also evolving fast, so love people that want to give input into how we can do things better and who do this in a thoughtful, constructive way.

Becoming a PCV driver with Ember

Ember will cover the cost of attaining a Category D PCV licence, including the cost of theory study resources, driving lessons and tests - theory, hazard perception and PCV practical test. There are terms and conditions attached if you were to fail tests or leave the company within 24 months.

Once a new driver starts the practical driving lessons, they will start to receive the standard hourly rate of an employed Ember driver for the training period.

It can take between 6-8 weeks to gain a Category D PCV licence, including up to 3 weeks to get a provisional licence to start driving training, 4-7 days driving training of at least 3 hours per day and time for completing the testing requirements.

Benefits

• £15.00 per hour starting rate with a guaranteed 40 hours of work per week (£31,200 pa), overtime is likely on top of this.
• £15.80 per hour after one year (£32,864 pa). We reward those who want to make a long term career.
• £16.40 per hour if you become an Ember Ambassador (£34,112 pa) - those who really live our values and give the best passenger experience.
• Overtime rates starting at £18.00 per hour and rising to 2x base pay rate for short notice shifts
• Relocation fees may be available for drivers looking to relocate to work at this hub
• Free CPC renewal for full time and part time drivers
• 28 days paid annual holiday
• Flexible annual leave - request your own holiday dates rather than being assigned them
• Up to 10 days unpaid annual leave
• 20 days paid leave for sickness, jury duty, parental or other unplanned leave
• Established progression paths at a fast-growing company
• Referral scheme - get paid for referring other top drivers to us
• Friendly culture
• You’ll be driving a state-of-the-art electric coach
• You’ll contribute to a hugely positive environmental impact, with every journey reducing emissions and traffic

Hours

Ember run a 24/7 service across Scotland, seven days per week, and you'll need to be able to rotate between a wide variety of shifts. We'll try to make these as sociable as possible and we'll give you five weeks’ notice of what the rota looks like so you have plenty of time to plan. We also frequently have overtime opportunities available at shorter notice.

Next Steps

Get in touch if you think you might be the right fit or learn more about Ember at www.ember.to.

Requirements

You will need to meet these basic requirements:

• Candidates must be a minimum of 21 years old.
• Candidates must already hold a full UK Category B licence, held for at least 6 months, with no disqualifying endorsements and a maximum of 6 points.
• Must pass a DVLA medical (forms D2 & D4) to gain provisional entitlement.
• Able to demonstrate high‑quality driving, including smooth braking and a commitment to safety.
• Flexibility to work early, late or night shifts on any day of the week. In return, we'll try to make these as sociable as possible and agree them well in advance.