IN our modern-day, supposedly equal opportunities society, it’s an inescapable fact that some things are still considered ‘boys only’. Three decades after Long-Distance Clara hit our screens in Pigeon Street, the majority of the big vehicles you see on the roads are driven by men – my personal theory on this being that women have probably decided to let them play with the toys while we get on with the truly important jobs!
Consequently, the Ladies Driving Challenges organised by The Fire Fighters Charity is a fantastic chance for women who enjoy being behind the wheel to get their hands on something bigger than a Chelsea tractor, and when I received a press release about the event earlier this year I jumped at the chance to sign up.
Participants have to raise a minimum of £90 to take part, and two successful cake sales later (big thanks to my colleagues and the crews at Toddington Fire Station for helping me to sell and eat said cakes), I found myself on the very cold and windy Alconbury Airfield, near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire for the Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire Ladies Driving Challenge. I felt very small alongside a huge yellow gritter lorry kindly supplied by Cambridgeshire County Council, and climbing into the cab was an achievement all in itself for someone used to ducking into a sports car. The array of kit adorning the dashboard was pretty overwhelming, but my mentor was very reassuring and we were soon off doing a large figure of eight on the runway, which had been divided up into sections for the different vehicles. The fact that my current car is so tiny makes reverse parking almost pleasurable, so going backwards into a ‘garage’ of cones in this beast was pretty daunting. To my surprise, though, I didn’t do too badly, and with the aid of little screen that shows you what’s on the behind you (pretty handy when you’ve no rear view mirror) I managed not to run over any cones.
The same success wasn’t repeated, however, with the quad bike and trailer. My inexperience with a thumb throttle led to much kangaroo-hopping (it’s a good job my instructor, seated behind me, had a helmet on too), and reversing the wretched thing with a trailer attached was absolutely impossible, although, as my instructor told me, it does help to look behind you, rather than straight ahead.
A digger and dumper truck proved slightly more easy to master, but my favourite of the day has to have been the fire engine. Things didn’t start off too well – accustomed to putting my foot on the clutch to go into gear, I pushed down on what I thought was the clutch, only for the vehicle to emit a loud ‘woooooooooop!’. “I was about to tell you there’s no clutch,” said my fire service mentor, before pointing out that the vehicle was an automatic. Embarrassment over, we set off, the service roads along either side of the runway providing the opportunity to really get up some speed. Passing another fire engine with the sirens on and honking the horn really was a thrill.
The day raises vital funds for The Fire Fighters Charity, which helps the thousands of fire fighters injured every year in the line of duty, and gives participants the chance to test their driving skills in a safe environment with expert tuition. If you love driving, it’s an unmissable experience – visit www.firefighterscharity.org.uk to find out about forthcoming challenges.