Casual Driver
Salary £ 15.57 per hour
Central London
Vacancy listed 12/09/2025
Application deadline 28/09/2025
Details
Opening in 2017, The Postal Museum is one of the most unique heritage attractions in London. Alongside the story of British social and communications history, we offer a subterranean ride on the old Post Office Underground Railway – Mail Rail. In this museum and attraction, we showcase the extraordinary stories from five centuries of one of the country’s most iconic services. The Postal Museum welcomed over 180,000 visitors in our first year and represents a significant addition to London’s cultural landscape! 
                                                                                                      
Based: Central London
Salary: £15.57 per hour
Contracts available: Casual contract, zero-hour 
Reports to: Visitor Experience Manager
Application closes: Sunday 28th September, at midnight
Group assessment day: w/c 13th October 2025
Interviews: w/c 20th October 2025
 

Purpose of the Job

 
As a Driver/Controller you will fulfil an important role as a member of the Operations team working alongside the Hosts, Team Leaders (TLs) and Visitor Experience Managers (VEMs) to deliver a market leading visitor experience and to maximise visitor enjoyment by maintaining excellent customer service levels. 
 
You will be responsible for driving and controlling the Mail Rail Train Ride, which includes delivering great customer service, taking the train through the tunnels, activating controls and managing audio-visual interactives throughout the Mail Rail experience. You will also be responsible for the safety of the passengers.

Casual Driver shifts will be allocated as needed by the business to cover staffing gaps, additional events, or increased capacity on holidays or weekends. Availability on weekends and during holidays is essential. Post holders should be flexible and able to react to the needs of the Postal Museum. Working hours may change as necessary. 

Day time shifts will either be 4 hours (relief, 11:45-15:45) or 8 hours (full day, 09:00-17:00 and inclusive of an unpaid lunch break). Other shifts with different timings may also be available. 

We currently operate 6 days a week, from Tuesday to Sunday, and during holidays, we are open 7 days a week.


Job Description


Key Responsibilities and Duties
 
Customer Service
  • To welcome all visitors on their arrival onto the platform and their boarding of the train.
  • To actively assist with finding and proactively anticipate any other needs visitors may have.
  • To be aware of all other activities the Postal Museum is running.
  • To maintain the museum’s standards of both personal and public presentation.
  • To act as advocate for the museum during all contact with visitors on site and when attending off site work events.

Train Driving
  • To drive the train safely, including assisting with the safe onloading and offloading of guests onto the ride. 
  • To make announcements to visitors as and when appropriate via the on-board tannoy system.
  • To control the start and end of audiovisual interactives during the experience.
  • To perform at the start and end of day, thorough checks on the tracks & trains. 
  • To check, troubleshoot and report on any faults.
  • To monitor the driver’s control screen and adhere to all signals around the tracks.
  • To follow emergency procedures (emergency management & evacuation of the train) as appropriate

Platform Management / Controller
  • To be in charge of the control panel & signaling system so trains are driven safely
  • To monitor the screen and train warning lights.
  • To make announcements to visitors as and when appropriate.
  • To work as a team with the driver to ensure safe batching of visitors.
  • To report any faults to the relevant team.
  • To complete all relevant paperwork.
  • To coordinate all responses to any ride related incident. 

Health & Safety
  • To demonstrate a duty of care for visitors by ensuring that public areas are safe and accessible at all times. 
  • To be effective in carrying out defined responsibilities for Health & Safety, including first aid, train or platform evacuation. 
  • To monitor, identify and promptly report any threats to the security of the museum’s visitors and collections. 

Other
  • Represent the museum and embody its values (Open, Generous, Playful, Curious and Innovative)
  • Provide operational support for retail, school groups, and other departmental projects or events.
  • To keep up to date with departmental and museum wide changes. This relies on having a basic level of computer skills in order to check work e-mails and using an application for shift allocation.  
  • Perform additional duties as assigned by manager within post's level and scope.
 
NB: Please note that this job description is accurate as of September 2025 but may not cover all responsibilities. The Museum reserves the right to make necessary changes to the role
 

Person Specification

 
Top Essential Criteria

We will be assessing the below 3 criteria in your application form. If these aren’t met, then you will not be shortlisted against the other criteria listed in the Further Essential & Desirable sections. 

  • Ability to deliver excellent customer service in a customer-facing role in a similar/comparable environment.
  • Ability to uphold safety procedures to a high standard and being able to act of these during emergency situations.
  • Ability to communicate effectively and confidently both verbally and in writing, to colleagues and groups of the general public.

Further Essential Criteria
  • An ability to understand and engage with a diverse range of customers 
  • Willingness to follow procedures in order to uphold high standards with a professional standard of personal presentation 
  • Willingness to go the extra mile paired with a can-do attitude in order to exceed customer expectations 
  • Flexible, positive attitude and ability to work on own initiative, adaptive to change and determination to succeed.
  • Confidence in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word and Excel) and till software for ticketing & retail.
  • Strong team working skills, supporting colleagues to reach shared goals
 
Desirable Criteria
  • First Aid qualification.
  • Conversant in other languages.
  • Experience of working in a museum or visitor attraction.
  • Experience of driving or operating a train or ride.

 

Other Working Conditions


Driver/Controllers will be expected to work across seven (as per contracted hours) days including weekends and early/late events per the needs of the business. Post holders will be expected to be flexible to the reactive needs of the Postal Museum and expect their shift allocations to vary. Working hours and days will be agreed in advance with the line manager and are subject to change as required. 

Driver/Controllers are expected to wear a uniform at all times along with a name badge, radio & earpiece and security pass whenever on duty. The uniform will be provided by the Museum during the induction.

It should be noted that the entirety of this job will take place underground in limited lighting and can sometimes be for extended periods of time.
 
Due to the nature of this post, there are some restrictions. The height of the driver’s cabin seat to the ceiling is of 85 cm means that employees will be driving in a confined space. In addition to this, due to the control panel & signalling system, we regret we cannot accept candidates with colour blindness. We also require candidates to pass a basic medical assessment by an occupational health professional, which tests sight, hearing and mobility. 
 
This post will include some manual handling, for which appropriate training will be given.

The post holder is expected to monitor and report on their work as directed by their line manager and adhere to set guidelines on handling, health and safety, lone working, etc., as advised, taking responsibility as appropriate.
 
Responsibility for public safety is central to this role.  Applicants should be willing to undergo an accredited training course for First Aid and other Health & Safety related skills if they are not currently qualified.

This position will require a relevant DBS check which will reveal any unspent convictions. A criminal record may not necessarily be a bar to placement, as any decision will be treated on its merits and individual circumstances subject to the museum’s overriding obligations to protect the children and vulnerable adults in its charge, members of the public, the safety of the museum’s staff and the Collection.

How to Apply

Kindly upload your up-to-date CV and a cover letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role.

Please note that all candidates must be eligible to work in the UK.
 
The Postal Museum is a Disability Confident Employer, if at this point you wish to disclose any disability, kindly let us know at hr@postalmuseum.org before the application deadline.

Closing Date

Sunday 28th September 2025

Assessment Date

w/c 13th October 2025

Interview Date

w/c 20th October 2025

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