Mum and daughter train drivers to work Mother's Day

Vicki McCarry, left, and her mother Cynthia are both trainee train drivers

A mother and daughter who are both trainee train drivers are to spend Mother's Day working on the rail network.

Cynthia and Vicki McCarry both work for Southeastern at Gillingham station in Kent.

The train operator said they are the first mother and daughter drivers to train together at the company.

Vicki, 30, said that as a new mother she was "proof that anyone can apply to be a train driver".

A 2019 study commissioned by trade union Aslef found just 6.5% of train drivers in Britain were women.

Cynthia, 60, said she was "immensely proud" of her daughter and "humbled to see her following in my footsteps to take on a lifelong career in rail".

Vicki, a new mother, said she was "proof anyone can apply to be a train driver"

The pair both worked in various customer-facing roles for Southeastern before applying for the driver-training scheme.

Cynthia said training to become a driver alongside her daughter made it "even more special".

"Doing this training together just gives us more to talk about around the dinner table," said Cynthia, whose other daugher's husband also works for Southeastern.

'Missed milestones'

Vicki said their flexible shift patterns meant she can share childcare responsibilities with her mother.

"We are able to arrange it so we can work opposite shifts and there is always someone there for the family, so it's worked out perfectly," she said.

While the pair will both be at work on Sunday, they will not be together and hope to "celebrate all the missed milestones" with a family BBQ when lockdown restrictions ease, Southeastern said.

In 2018, Southeastern said only 5% of drivers were women. It said it had introduced initiatives to encourage more women into the industry, adding that it wanted 40% of applicants to be women by 2021.

It said 25% of applications were from women in its last recruitment drive, adding: "The target is proving challenging, but Southeastern is committed to inspiring women to consider roles in rail".

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