'We need more female taxi drivers in Nottingham'

A mum behind an initiative set up to train and mentor women to become taxi drivers has launched an appeal to encourage more people into the profession.

Mary Storrie, founder of Think Pink, has partnered up with Nottingham City Council to create more opportunities for women in the city.

Storrie, co-founder of the Rosie May Foundation - a charity set up in memory of her daughter who was murdered - launched the Think Pink taxi scheme with DG Cars in Nottingham in 2022.

The latest scheme is offering training, mentoring and licencing support to "get more women drivers on the road".

Storrie said: "Women are very under-represented in this industry, just 6% of taxi drivers nationwide are women.

"It's important that we have more women drivers on the road because other women like to have a woman driver."

The charity is behind a similar scheme in Sri Lanka, where women drive other women around in pink tuk tuks to avoid harassment on public transport.

Storrie founded the charity in 2004 with her husband Graham after their 10-year-old daughter Rosie May was killed by a 17-year-old boy.

Jenny White, 27, has been a Think Pink taxi Driver for two years after seeing a job advert online.

She said: "The flexibility is probably the best thing, if I have medical appointments or family issues, I can immediately just rearrange my whole day.

"The other thing is the people, you meet some absolutely lovely people doing this, you get some great regulars."

There are currently 20 female Think Pink drivers in Nottingham - and the goal is to have enough for passengers to be able to specifically choose a female driver when making a booking.

White said: "I cannot wait until we have got enough female drivers, because the amount of people that come up to me and say 'they would use more taxis if they knew they could guarantee myself or one of my other colleagues was behind the wheel'."

Councillor Corall Jenkins, city council portfolio holder for neighbourhood, equalities and safety, said: "The council will do a step-by-step approach with Think Pink, so getting your badges, getting your cars MOT'd and giving you support during the process of driving the taxis.

"The end game is to build, get more women driving taxis, more women in general having a choice on what taxis they take.

"Some people feel comfortable in a female taxi, so we want that choice and we want people to feel comfortable and safe in Nottingham, particularly around the night-time economy."

Councillor Audrey Dinnall, the former chairwoman of licencing at Nottingham City Council, was instrumental in setting up the partnership.

Dinnall said: "I think it's absolutely brilliant and I'm really so proud of it."

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