Tales from the Road: Female Truckers

The struggle between genders in a typically male dominated industry has always been a struggle for both parties. That doesn’t mean that the industry itself is sexist, it’s more that the advertisement is outdated, targeting more of the male gender than the female. As we’re sure some of you seasoned truck drivers will have realised, the call for drivers has dropped considerably in recent years. This has left the industry desperately needing new drivers to take up the wheel and carry on trucking. The way some training centres have taken up this challenge is by altering how they target their new recruits. Currently, only 1% of truck drivers are women with a further 1% under the age of 25. That leaves the majority of truck drivers around the average age of 51 with 48,000 active license holders to retire in the next 5 years! This staggering shortage in drivers has meant that the industry has had to branch out, become more gender friendly and has needed to entice and retain its young drivers. This, is where Horsepower comes in. - See more at: http://www.fueltek.co.uk/tales-from-the-road-female-truckers/#sthash.qZDRVxE9.dpuf Back in 2014 Horsepower, a HGV and LGV training centre targeting young men and women alike, opened its car doors to young, bright eyed truck drivers for the very first time. Led by the inspirational Nathalie Axon and Jan Carter, Horsepower claims to take a different, more effective stand when it comes to training up new HGV and LGV drivers. Previously training to become a truck driver focused on the driving skills and how to actually obtain a license. Though this is an important part of the job (you can’t really become a truck driver if you can’t drive an actual truck) it fell short in preparing young drivers for the hardship of the industry. Becoming industry savvy is this driving school’s aim. One issue women have had in general is dealing with their stereotypical male counter parts. Their set ways and thinking has created a look for truck drivers we know isn’t true! This stereotyping, however, has unintentionally turned a lot of young people away from the roaming life of the open road. - See more at: http://www.fueltek.co.uk/tales-from-the-road-female-truckers/#sthash.qZDRVxE9.dpuf

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