"miss Voluptuous" is back in the news again
https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/women-wish-there-was-more-females-driving-taxis-to-feel-saf-9310961/
n our ninth feature on ‘Inspirational Women’, we talk to taxi driver Caitlin Nash-Robinson.
After experiencing a “rough situation” in her personal life, a job as a taxi driver in her brother-in-law’s business turned out to be the “perfect job” for Caitlin.
She began working for QA Taxis in 2018.
Caitlin Nash-Robinson, a taxi driver for QA Taxis in Grantham.Caitlin Nash-Robinson, a taxi driver for QA Taxis in Grantham.
She said: “It’s really helpful. It allows me to be flexible and able to work around myself.
she does look as if she's been on a diet
Although Caitlin has regular customers or does the same taxi runs, “every day is different”.
Throughout her five years with the taxi firm, her regular customers have become more like “friends”, she said.
She added: “You get to know people, not even through habits or routines, but you get to know where they are going and things like that.
“It’s a part of the industry I enjoy. You don’t just have customers, you make a lot of friends out of it as well.”
In Grantham, seeing a female taxi driver is not a rare sight.
Her sister is also a taxi driver with QA Taxis and at least a quarter of the taxi drivers in the town are female, according to
However, the number of female taxi and private hire drivers has “dropped significantly” nationally.
According to Taxi Plus, a taxi licensing service, recent statistics reveal that only three per cent of taxi drivers in the UK are women.
Taxi Plus describes the underrepresentation of women in the industry as a “serious issue”.
Initiatives in place to try and change this includes Females in the Fleet (FITF), a national professional association for female drivers in the UK.
Through this association, women get access to funding to become a driver, mentoring, and much more.
On the issue of women in the industry, Caitlin said: “You do tend to find more in Grantham, but when you talk about it, people say ‘I wish we had more’.”
Outside of her day job, Caitlin has competed in pageants across the country, including Miss Voluptuous UK last year.
Through this, she comes across many different women and they reiterate the feeling of wanting more women in the taxi industry.
Caitlin added: “I travel all over the country with random people and you get a lot of younger women turning around and saying they wish there were more women driving taxis.
“If I was on a night out, I feel safer getting in a car with a woman driver.”
However, since Caitlin has started she has “definitely seen an increase”.
She added: “You do get some women doing set runs and things like that because that’s what they feel and I get that.
“I mean when I first started I debated on would I enjoy weekends and evenings or would I just enjoy daytimes.
“But it’s one of those that I actually enjoy all aspects of it.
“I’ll do the school runs, I’ll do the regular runs, I’ll do the airport runs, I’ll do the evenings.
“I enjoy all of that which I think means there’s a lot more women that are coming out realising there’s a lot more in place and that it’s a job we can do.”
Looking forward, Caitlin believes there is “definitely more that needs to be done”.
Caitlin added: “You get to know your regulars which is probably why some women come into it.
“I know, at first, it was a comfort for me getting to know people, which made it easier going out in the evenings.
“It does have that impact, the faces you come to know.
“Going forward there is more that needs to be done for women to feel safer.
“I think it’s just knowing that there are opportunities and it can work for you.”
