On a post coinciding with International Women’s Day, Hungarian lorry driver Ildiko Lina Lazar has opened up on the state of facilities for female lorry drivers at customer sites in the UK.
Lina, who has some 15,600 followers on Facebook, explained this morning how she keeps a “wee bottle for emergency situations” after being questioned on the condition of facilities at customer sites.
After making the post, Lina told Trans.INFO that she has no complaints at all about the situation, as she knew what she was getting into when she started trucking:
I didn’t write the post to complain. I knew what was going on in trucking when I started, I don’t expect the whole world to change suddenly because I decided to be a driver. Rather, we can help ourselves with some ingenuity in many things, instead of just whining about fighting for our rights.
As many in the industry will know all too well, there are some sites with no female facilities at all, as Lina pointed out earlier today:
There are some difficulties but with a bit of witchcraft everything in solvable. Many warehouses, built before the 80′, has no female toilets at all, I have to walk often a mile to the workers toilets, which is usually by the entrance (drivers are usually at the back). Often no access to female toilets at all, „use the mens, honey”. You probably know how mens usually look.. I don’t want to sit on dirty toilets.
So I got this female wee bottle for emergency situations, it’s more hygienic than handling dirty washroom door handles or sitting down on filthy toilet seats. It’s designed for women, not going to demonstrate how to use it for now, sorry folks. If no shower available, I still can have a strip wash with a cloth, luckily I am not a sweaty type.
While Lina has no complaints and is just getting on with things, there have been a number of calls recently for the road transport sector to do more to attract women to the industry.
Peter Laursen, Executive Vice President of Dekra, believes that more flexibility is required to lure women (and indeed young people of any gender) into the profession.
Denmark’s 3F trade union, along with employers’ associations ATL and DTL-A, are also seeking ways to attract more women to become HGV drivers. 3F believes women will represent 10% of Denmark’s driver pool by 2031.
Last week, a taskforce was set up in Denmark to help achieve the following:
- Set goals for companies to get more women drivers.
- Show that women are welcome and create a good company culture.
- Make a mentoring scheme in the company for women.
- Offer flexible working hours.
- Provide work clothes for both sexes and secure changing rooms.
- Focus on health, exercise and diet in the workplace.
- Invite local school classes to visit transport companies to learn about trucking.
Moreover, back in November, two organisations set up a lorry driver course for women in the French region of Maine-et-Loire. It is too hoped the program will alleviate the shortage of drivers in France.
Photo credit: Adventures of trucker Lina
