Lee Cabs looks to improve diversity of Wellingborough taxi drivers with ‘Females in the Fleet’ initiative

Wellingborough’s Lee Cabs is promoting a new initiative titled ‘Females in the Fleet’ to help promote and normalise female cab drivers.

The company is well-known in the Wellingborough area with more than 30 years of experience ferrying locals from place to place.

In 2022 the outfit is more eager than ever to increase the diversity of its staff, promoting cab driving to a female audience.

Driving a taxi is one of the UK’s most male-dominated job roles as fewer than three per cent of workers are female.

The initiative is designed to encourage those outside of the profession to consider it as a viable trade for women, and remove the barriers in place that are contributing to the significant imbalance of female drivers.

There is a demand, as plenty of Lee Cabs patrons will enquire about having a female driver.

Jodie Wright of Lee Cabs told the Northants Telegraph: “With Christmas looming, and the trade entering its high demand period it would be the perfect time to deliver the message on behalf of all drivers and operators alike that there is a zero tolerance approach to abuse and violence towards vulnerable lone working drivers that are only trying to make an honest living for their families.”

Speaking about Females in the Fleet, she added: “I jumped on board at a ground transport exhibition, she [referring to Rachel Dale, founder of Females in the Fleet] asked me to go along and help on the stand, and I felt so compelled that I carried on helping and supporting the cause, it just made sense.

"The balance needs to change, there should be as many women wanting to do the job, and you’ll find that women tend to do really well in the trade.

"The majority of women that come into it in the office environment end up running the business or in the higher end of management.”

The Take Me Group is a nationwide company that took over United Travel Group in which Lee Cabs operates, and ambassadors from the company have supported the initiative as the need for more people behind the wheel is huge, and female drivers are so few in number.

A petition has been launched by Females in the Fleet which hopes to provoke the Government to conduct safety and security reviews of taxi drivers of all genders and backgrounds, as the safety of both male and female workers is a high priority for Lee Cabs.

Most in the trade are self-employed, so the guidelines surrounding safety are not as widely known as the ones present for public transport operators.

This call for help comes at a time when the job is tougher than ever. Emergency services continue to struggle, and taxis are often the only way that people can get to, and from, places that they desperately need to visit.

The petition is also partially a response to the deaths of two taxi drivers in the past three months, with 59-year-old Anakh Singh in Wolverhampton and Mohammed Istakhar in Solihull being found fatally injured while on duty.

Wellingborough’s Lee Cabs is calling on locals to help inspire change, as once it has amassed 10,000 signatures it will warrant a reply from Parliament.

The petition can be found at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/628761.