Greater Anglia's train driver mum who is breaking down stereotypes

Lottie Hart has been a train depot driver at Southend Victoria for a year

Lottie Hart has been a depot train driver at Southend Victoria Station since October 2022.

The mum-of-three, from Shoeburyness, is one of a very small number of females in the rail industry, with women making up just 16% of the workforce.

"I didn't realise how male-dominated the rail industry is, until I came in," Ms Hart says.

"You realise, 'oh there's only two girls in my class', as opposed to, like, 12 guys."

'You don't look like a depot driver'

Ms Hart followed her father into the railway industry, where he has worked for 20 years.

She was part of the cabin crew for EasyJet before the airline left London Southend Airport.

The Greater Anglia training academy has several state-of-the-art simulators

Ms Hart is well aware of the pre-conceptions that still exist in the train industry surrounding gender.

She says: "I remember when I went for my first interview, one of the guys said, 'you don't look like a depot driver'."

She adds: "There is obviously a stereotype where it's just men, it's greasy, and you're just getting your hands dirty, but no, anyone can do it.

"I've got daughters, so when I say I'm going be an actual train driver, I feel like they're proud of me as well for that."

Ms Hart's employer, Greater Anglia, employs women in 25% of its roles overall, but just 8% in mainline driver positions.

Of its 805 mainline train drivers, just 65 are female - a statistic that Greater Anglia is keen to change.

"Historically, the role of the train driver has always been correlated with a male person," says Katy Bucknell, human resources director at Greater Anglia.

"It stems back many years, even going back as far as children's programmes with the male person doing the role of the train driver.

"You can be any gender to undertake that role and the aim for today is to break down that stereotype."

Katy Bucknell is the HR director at Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia has been increasing the number of women in its front-line roles since 2018, when five per cent of its train drivers were female.

Ms Bucknell says the rail operator's overall aim for female train drivers is 25%, but adds that "we have got to start somewhere, and these recruitment days support us in achieving those goals".

One event, which took place at the Greater Anglia training academy in Stratford, allowed people to have a go on state-of-the-art training simulators.

The simulators are a fully-operational mock-up of a train driver's cabin, allowing the trainees to 'drive' along any part of the Greater Anglia route.

Ms Hart adds: "I don't think it matters what gender you are to be on the railway, because it's not like it's heavy lifting and it's something that a woman can't do - anybody is suitable."