Girl Torque: All the details on the 2022 charity calendar that’s positively promoting women in road transport… Don’t miss out: get your pre-order in now!!

Brought together by a passion for their profession, a group of drivers are producing a calendar to raise money for five charities

This, is a brilliant industry. Why? People. Road transport may be facing a wider range of problems than ever, but it keeps on going; the blood in the veins that keep the heart of our nation pumping. Those wheels keep turning, in the face of ever greater adversity. That’s because when you strip it all down to the bare bones, there’s a spine of incredible, inspirational people who go above and beyond what they need to get the job done and seek to support others. Look at the amount of charitable and fundraising events organised by truck drivers. Would you find anything close to that per-capita in any other industrial sector? Don’t think so.

Truck driving brings people together, it creates bonds and unites, and forges friendships for life. For some folk, yeah, it’s just a job. But for others, that feeling of freedom, of the open road, that inexplicable need to keep on moving and exploring; it becomes a compulsion. It burrows into your soul and it never really leaves you. You either get it or you don’t.

That’s ultimately what’s brought this group of women together; a mutual respect, a passion for the work they do and the career they’ve chosen. Did you know that only 1% of truck drivers in the UK are women? It’s maybe not surprising, but it’s a long way from ideal. This industry badly needs more women drivers. For a start, they’re good at it. Also, because women can’t be bothered dealing with the nonsense that’s become the norm in haulage.

If we had a damn sight more women driving trucks, do you think we’d all have to have sat in waiting rooms for hours at a time while fat blokes coughed and farted in their sleep (pre-Covid)? Do you think we would, as a whole, have to deal with filthy toilets and such a disgraceful lack of decent facilities? Do you think big, arrogant companies would be so confident to turn trucks away for being ten minutes late on a booking time? No, we wouldn’t. Because women would never have put up with all that sort of nonsense in the first place. Who would you rather have had in charge of your recent pandemic Jacinda Adern or Boris Johnson? That’s rhetorical by the way, please don’t write in. Maybe, just maybe, if we can get enough females involved in this industry we might get some fundamental change, and we might get somewhere for once.

As there simply aren’t many women truck drivers out there, these formidable females have gradually been drawn together, gotten to know each other in recent years and become firm friends. They’ve shared many mutual experiences, striving to earn the respect that’s awarded automatically to men in a male dominated industry – and winning it too – making more than a few gobshites eat their words over the years in the process. If it bothers you that a girl is driving a truck dude, it’s because deep down inside you’re deeply insecure about something and that’s OK, there’s therapy for that these days.

The driving force behind the Girl Torque calendar is Karen Sutherland. She came up with the concept after hearing a variety of comments and opinions over the years about women drivers, whether she asked for them or not. “I wanted a way to show everyone what we do as drivers and raise some money for charity too” she explains, “There are some right tough cookies out there. These women do what they do for the love of the job, not the attention.” The calendar will feature 24 female drivers from different sectors of the haulage industry. Each month has two showing off the truck they drive and the work they do. Pictured here is the full article, which is in the September ’21 132 page bumper edition of Truck & Driver, on sale NOW until Friday Sept 24! Make sure you grab a copy, there’s loads of extra content, the chance to win great prizes and loads of great trucks too.

Sponsorship and pre-orders!

The back page of the Girl Torque calendar is open to sponsorship to cover the print cost. In return for your donation your name or company logo will be printed on the back. Furthermore, with print projects such as this it’s really important to get as many pre-orders in as possible. So if you want to support this great cause, then don’t delay! For enquiries on sponsorship or pre-orders, contact Karen via email [email protected] AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

All profits from the calendar will go to the following five charities:

MacMillian Cancer Support

The Mental Health Foundation

Erskine Veterans Charity

Sight Scotland

Midlands Air Ambulance