THE PINK LINK LADIES
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Anne Buckly, night-shift supervisor at Pink Link, has been with the company for three years. Buckly also has an HGV licence, but does not drive much these days. Her job usually involves making sure the overnight Palletways operation runs smoothly.
She says: “When I first worked in the industry – not at Pink Link – I used to get comments from drivers like ‘no disrespect to you but, why is a woman in the yard and not in the office?’ “On one occasion when I was in the depot, another driver said ‘have you come in to make the tea?’ There was a bit of resistance from the male drivers in the early days, but that’s disappearing now.” Buckly says that, in the early days as a driver, she would often spend a lot of time out on the road. “Tramping or night trunking can be a hard life, you can’t always be sure of getting somewhere secure to park,” she adds.
“The situation is getting better but you still need to know the places to go to.” Sarah Sharpe works in the customer services and credit control departments at Pink Link, and has been with the company since 1999.
Sharpe, who has taken time off to have two children, appreciates the firm’s attitude to child-care matters.
“The company has always been very flexible and understanding of my needs regarding the children, in terms of the hours and days I can work. It’s this sort of attitude from the business that is really appreciated, and helps to create a great atmosphere.” Beverley Shelton works at the business part-time as sales co-ordinator, and is the sister of the owners.
She says: “Men and women at Pink Link do their jobs and just get on with each other, its like one big family.” Customer services manager Sarah Potter used to work as a hairdresser, but successfully made the switch to haulage several years ago. She says: “I would recommend transport as a career for women who are interested in making the change.”