GIRL DRIVES SCRAPER

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31023, 31 March 1966, Page 2

GIRL DRIVES SCRAPER

The sight of a pretty blonde at the controls of a City Council paving machine in Worcester street yesterday afternoon had pedestrians gaping. Her attire—orange shirt, green and black jersey and grey slacks —made a startling contrast with the council employees’ grimy overalls. However, she seemed to be taking a professional interest

in proceedings, and listened intently as the men explained details of the mechanism.

Once her curiosity was satisfied she climbed off the machine, but as she was

walking away she was approached by a reporter. Somewhat disconcerted, the girl said she was a first-year science student at the University of Canterbury, and did not want her name published. Her parents, she said, were already far from happy about their 18-year-old daughter’s ambition to become a scraper driver and they might read the report. “It all started three years ago,” the girl said. A strip of road near her home town was being sealed, and she asked the operators about the heavy machines they were using. More paving was laid in the next two years, and she came back each time.

Finally, she inquired about the possibility of a job. “They said they would treat me just the same as one of the boys.” Since then, the girl has acquired the necessary licences and has driven a paving machine, a bulldozer and a scraper. When she saw the men working in Worces-

ter street yesterday she could not resist the temptation to jjin in. “She’s very mechanicallyminded, and keen to get a job with us,” a council employee said.