Job offer but already signed a contract

[Beezknees]

I accepted a job offer a couple of weeks ago, due to start in 3 weeks. Signed the employment contract last week.

However today I have been offered a position for another job that I interviewed for. I would prefer this second job as it interests me more.

I've never been in this situation before so I have no idea the legality of it all. Can I pull out of the first job now I've signed a contract or will I face legal issues?

Oh definitely following this

So as someone who is the head of recruitment at a large corporate, I can tell you if you haven't started the first job, yes you can absolutely turn it down even post contract signing. Could they hold you to it? In my 15 years experience I have never seen it happen nor would we ever bother with it ourselves. It's a waste of time.

In fact we have this situation regularly, it's just part of the job, no one is a sure thing until their first day.

The start date of the contract would be the first day of employment surely so I can't see how they can hold you to it. Also assuming you have a probation period, during which notice would be much shorter than usual (like a week) you'd be giving them that notice anyway.

Thank you for the replies. Yes, the notice period is a week anyway so I doubt they'd want me to come in for just a week to waste time on training me.