THE thought of me driving a lorry is, quite frankly, hilarious.

As a dainty 5ft 1in woman I could not be further away from the image of a stereotypical trucker – but this is exactly what made me ideally suited to clamber up into the cab and try my hand behind the wheel.

LGV driver training provider Horsepower teamed up with independent haulier Mark Thompson Transport to offer a taster day at Oulton Park racing circuit on Saturday.

It was aimed at men and women who would never have considered a career driving trucks in an industry which is facing a serious shortage of manpower – and womanpower for that matter.

Figures from the Road Haulage Association (RHA) show there is already a 45,000 driver shortage with 35,000 drivers due to retire within 12 months and only 17,000 drivers joining the industry.

A RHA spokesman said: "Women drivers represent a tremendous asset to the haulage sector.

"They have a better driving pass rate than men – consistently over the past eight years according to the Department for Transport, have a lower accident rate, have excellent spatial awareness, are extremely diligent and pay great attention to detail."

Surprisingly, there was a good number of women at the taster day and their general consensus was a big thumbs up.

Winsford woman Julie Williams, a public speaking coach, said: "If I can do it anyone can – because I was not sure that I could.

"I thought 'I'll make a mess of this, I'll stall it' but it's surprising how quickly you actually become fairly comfortable with it."

The first lesson was how to climb into the cab and back out in safety, a valuable thing to learn when the driver's seat is above head height.

Then were were taken out on the open roads, but only as passengers so we could glimpse the world from on high and how our accustomed road position had to change to accommodate the width of the truck.

We then were let loose on Oulton Park's rally circuit where, after a lap of friendly instruction as a passenger once more, we were given the chance to drive three laps of the circuit.

After a tentative first lap getting used to the feel of the vehicle, its size and how well it responded to both the brake and accelerator, I relaxed into the second and third lap and really had fun.

My expectations could not be more wrong – I thought it would feel massive and unwieldy and have goodness knows how many gears to clunk through.

But instead it was automatic, so there's one less thing to worry about, and much more responsive than I ever imagined.

Also, it was not carrying a trailer, which is undoubtedly a mercy for a taster session with inexperienced hopefuls.

For veterinary nurse Sarah Hayes, who works at Ark Vets, in Kingsmead, the day was a dream come true.

"My mum's 84 and when I told her I was going truck driving she said 'you've wanted to do that since you were 15' and she's right," she said.

"It has been amazing and everyone's been so friendly and helpful – it's been like a 'Surprise Surprise' moment for me."

The day achieved its aims from Horsepower's point of view.

Nathalie Axon, from the company, said: "We had quite a lot of people saying 'when can we do the training?' and at least 10 people there who would consider a change of career."

For more information visit horsepowerwoman.co.uk or horsepowerman.com.