Can You Be a Train Driver With ADHD or Dyslexia? UK Rules and Adjustments

No official rule we read bars ADHD or dyslexia by name. Great Britain's train driving regulations test effects instead: a driver must not have a condition, or take medication, likely to reduce attention or concentration. A recognised doctor judges that at the medical, and you can ask for adjustments to the psychometric tests.

Updated for RIS-3751-TOM issue 4 (published 7 December 2024). The official points on this page were checked against the regulations, ORR, RSSB, assessment-centre, train company and GOV.UK documents on 25 October 2026; our own advice is labelled as ours.

Not medical or legal advice. This page sets out what official documents say. For your own case, speak to your GP or prescriber, and to the recruitment team of the company you apply to. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of RSSB, the Office of Rail and Road, The OPC or any train company, and nothing here is official test material.

This page is about Great Britain's mainline railway, where anyone employed to drive a train needs a licence from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). To get one, ORR says, a driver must pass both a medical examination and an occupational psychological fitness examination before appointment. Northern Ireland has its own: Translink, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company's group, says its train driver assessment process complies with the Train Driver Licences and Certificates Regulations (TDLCR) (NI) 2010. Translink's policy is quoted below where it differs.

Schedule 1 of the Train Driving Licences and Certificates Regulations 2010 sets the medical requirements. Its general requirement reads: "Drivers must not be suffering from any medical conditions or be taking any medication, drugs or substances which are likely to cause—"

The minimum content of the medical before appointment includes, among other things, "tests for psychotropic substances such as illicit drugs or psychotropic medication and the abuse of alcohol calling into question the fitness for the job", and "cognitive: attention and concentration; memory; perception; reasoning" (Schedule 1, paragraph 2(1)). Medicals then recur: at least every three years up to the age of 55, every year after that.

Two things the documents do not tell you. No source we read lists which medicines a recognised doctor accepts, so we do not either. ORR names RSSB's RIS-3789-TOM, "Train Drivers – Medical Fitness Assessments", as industry good practice for the medical; we could not read its contents, so we quote none of it.

In RSSB's standard, each psychometric test assesses a selection criterion. Attention comes first in RSSB's table, with two tests, and a third test, the WAFV, assesses vigilance. The publishers of TEA-Occ and the WAFV both say their test measures sustained attention:

Criteria are from RSSB's FAQ (table 1) and formats from Translink's policy (Appendix B). The other tests (ATAVT perception, two-hand coordination, the situational judgement exercise and the interview) are in our guide to every train driver psychometric test, and TEA-Occ has its own guide.

Our reading, not an official statement: if your difficulty is holding attention over time, the Group Bourdon, TEA-Occ and the WAFV are the tests to practise for and ask about. If it is reading speed or accuracy, the TRP tests, which by their name assess trainability for rules and procedures, are where to ask whether an adjustment such as extra reading time is possible. RSSB's report notes that neurodivergent people "[m]ay experience periods of hyperfocus or (conversely) difficulty sustaining attention on tasks": the same person can find one test easy and another hard.

There are four points in the process where your condition or your medication may come up. The documents give different people a role at each one:

On the medical itself, The Train Drivers Academy says it "may look at eyesight, hearing, general health, medical history, drug and alcohol standards and mental health". The medical decision rests with an ORR-recognised doctor. ORR's guide says that if a recognised doctor thinks a driver should seek their GP's advice on matters beyond the scope of the medical, the reasoning should be clearly explained to the driver.

Our advice: give the recognised doctor a complete and accurate account of your diagnosis and every medicine you take. A medical that later turns out to be based on missing information helps nobody, and once you are a driver the duty to report a health concern is written into regulation 17(3).

RSSB's FAQ, question 15: "If you have a disability or condition, including neurodiversity, or may need adjustments to be made at the assessment centre, you can ask for suitable adjustments." It tells you to contact the train company's recruitment team as soon as possible, warns that "Without prior notice, support is not guaranteed, and your assessment might have to be rescheduled", and adds that evidence of your disability or condition will be required.

The law behind this, in Great Britain, is the Equality Act 2010. GOV.UK says you are disabled under it if you have a physical or mental impairment with a "substantial" and "long-term" negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities, and that employers must make reasonable adjustments, including "changing the recruitment process so a candidate can be considered for a job"; and GOV.UK's guidance for employers gives the example of allowing candidates to complete a written test using a computer. RSSB's report adds that a formal diagnosis is not required for a person to be considered disabled under the Act. That is the legal definition; at the assessment centre, RSSB says, adjustments still need evidence.

Two limits are written down too. GOV.UK says some jobs may have an essential requirement that cannot be met with a reasonable adjustment, and the medical requirements in Schedule 1 apply to every driver. Some companies also run disability schemes: Southeastern's trainee driver advert (closing date 1 January 2026) says that, as a member of the Disability Confident scheme, it will offer an interview to applicants who apply under the scheme and meet the minimum criteria.

Help with the cost of support at work comes from Access to Work (England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland has a different system). GOV.UK lists "having ADHD or dyslexia" among the conditions it can cover and says you do not need a diagnosis to apply. It can also help pay for communication support at a job interview, under its own eligibility rules.

RSSB's report "Driving inclusion" (its page is dated 19 March 2026) is based on interviews with eight neurodivergent train drivers and three workshops with employer representatives. Many drivers described the cab as a place that suits their strengths: fixed timetables, clear rules, largely solitary work. The strengths they named include focus, attention to detail and route learning. The challenges included reading rotas and dense written material, and fear of disclosing. One driver said: "I was too scared to say anything in case it costs me my job."

The report's ideas for employers include clear processes for adjustments, and, for learning and competence assessments, options such as "Consider removing exam time limits, if time is not part of the criteria being assessed". These are suggestions for training and workplace assessments, not rules for the selection tests. RSSB's Right Track gives one example in practice: a GB Railfreight train manager with autism said that during his driver examinations a manager can reword questions and he can answer orally instead of writing. In September 2026 RSSB also published a tender for research into neuroinclusive principles for driver training, development, competence management and related workplace activities, while maintaining safety-critical competence requirements.

Steps 1 and 4, and "in writing" in step 2, are ProSyllabus advice; the rules in each step are from the sources named. The attempt rules, a date checker and a 12-month plan are in our guide to train driver retakes and pass rates, and the order of the day is in what happens on the assessment day.

Every test in the standard is explained in our hub guide to the UK train driver psychometric tests. Our guides on this assessment are collected on the UK train driver exam page.