1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198 
THE FIRST GRADUATE of a scheme designed to boost the
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
number of women entering Scotland's haulage industry has collected her HGV licence.
Brenda Anderson became the first student to complete the new programme,Women into Logistics, following its October launch.
Women across the Fife, Grampian and Tayside regions of Scotland are being targeted for the scheme, which is being run by Instep Initiatives, the training arm of the Dundee and Tayside Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Douglas Pond,general manager of Instep Commercial. says the plan is to provide a supportive training environment for women, who currently account for only 9% of the workforce.
"It's going really well at the moment and we've had a lot of interest," he adds. "In our experi ence, women drivers are reliable and are good time-keepers."
He hopes to train 180 people in the region, about 80% of whom will be female. The course includes practical HGV training as well as wider issues such as an introduction to the industry.
Mark Ridgway, business development director at Dundee-based haulier PS Ridgway, says his company is keen to employ graduates from the scheme: -The course fills a need I think some women can feel intimidated training with men and this is an industry women often don't consider going into."
The course has 30 candidates currently registered, with a further 70 applications pending.