A Miss England finalist quit her modelling career to pursue her dream job – becoming a lorry driver. According to a BBC report, former Miss Lincolnshire Milly Everatt wanted to drive lorries, having grown up driving tractors on the family farm. So, the 23-year-old ditched her glamorous career to obtain both Class 1 and Class 2 HGV licences, needed to drive vehicles up to 44 tonnes in the UK. She applied for the licenses last year after reading about driver shortages in the country during Covid.
“I don’t feel I have anything to prove as a woman in a male-dominated industry as far as my capability,” she told Daily Star.
“However, if I can be continued proof that this is an industry women are welcome in and can succeed in then I’m happy to be an example to others thinking about getting into the cab,” she added.
Ms Everatt is hoping to encourage other women to join the industry. She us among the two per cent of women who are also HGC drivers in the country.
Speaking to the BBC last year, Ms Everatt’s trainer Mark Curtis said she had shown “a lot of potential”.
She started competing in professional beauty pageants in 2017 and was crowned Miss Lincolnshire in 2018. She finished sixth in Miss England, the UK’s biggest beauty pageant.
Ms Everatt shared her part of jibes after making the professional switch. People commented she is not used to “proper work”.
“A lot of people presume that because it’s my dad’s business I don’t work hard. But if anything sometimes you’ve got to work a bit harder to get away from that. But I enjoy doing it, me and my sisters all work for my dad,” she told the BBC.
“I love having the freedom that comes with driving, as it takes me all around the country, and the wages are great too,” Ms Everatt said.
