Government on track to lower train driver minimum age to 18 in Great Britain

Labour will introduce legislation this week for reduction from current age of 20 in effort to prevent big shortage

Labour will introduce legislation to lower the minimum age for train drivers to 18 in the House of Commons this week, as figures show fewer than 3% of drivers on Great Britain’s railways are under 30.

The government is pressing ahead with its proposals for teenage recruits, lowering the minimum age from the current 20 years old, in a move that ministers hope will stave off a potential shortage of thousands of drivers.

A looming mass exodus through retirement threatens to intensify driver shortages and worsen train reliability, with a lack of crew already a big cause of late-notice cancellations.

The current average age of Great Britain’s 24,00 train drivers is 48, and about 25% of them will reach retirement age before 2030.