Woman gets massive £10k salary rise after switching careers to become bin lorry driver
A woman who got a massive increase in pay by becoming a bin lorry driver says that 'anyone who has arms and legs' can do it and make more money.
Luca Klimmt, 32, was working in a warehouse when she became a van driver, and decided that she wanted to make more money by getting the training to drive lorries as well.
She passed her HGV test in October 2023 which got her a big promotion and a £10,000 salary increase to get behind the wheel of a 33ft-long Volvo FM truck on a daily basis.
Now she earns her crust by getting up at 5am and driving up to 250 miles per shift as she collects chemical waste from businesses and takes it to the tip.
Advert
The Exeter woman says she still gets comments from people who say women 'can't drive', but reckons that anyone who can drive can get a lucrative pay rise behind the wheel of a HGV if they do the training, and she wants other women to 'go for it'.
"A Fiat 500 has got a reputation as quite a girly car - a lot of girls have it as their first car. People are shocked when I tell them that I drive a bin lorry," Luca said.
"People sometimes assume I've got a male driver in the cab, I have to tell them that I work alone and I do it all on my own.
"At work I've had random people ask me if there's a man with me, if I've got anyone to help me, or if I actually drive the lorry."
She said that the early morning starts were 'rough' but she knows the route as it's the same each week and she drives around most of Somerset and Dorset as she goes about her business.
She might be driving an absolute monster of a vehicle but it's become such a familiar thing that she doesn't even think about it and navigating a 33ft-long bin lorry is 'like driving a car' to her.
Luca says she's the only woman driving lorries for her company and she'd like to see 'more women in the industry'.
She says 'everyone just treats me equally at work' so her colleagues aren't the ones with the 'assumption that men think women can't drive still in this age'.
She said: "It's like 'come on now, we've all got the same arms and legs - anyone can drive it if you're trained'.
"My boyfriend thinks it's really cool."
Her advice to any woman considering it is to 'just do it and try it for yourself, it's not as scary as you think'.
Joe Harker