A beauty queen and model is swapping the runway for the open road as she trains for an HGV licence.
Milly Everatt, 22, is a former Miss Lincolnshire and a finalist in Miss England.
The farmer’s daughter, 22, from Eastoft, was inspired to learn to drive 44-ton vehicles after a combination of the pandemic and Brexit led to a national shortage of drivers — and increased pay to £50,000.
Only 1% to 3% of HGV drivers are female, in one of the biggest gender imbalances in British society, according to estimates.
But Milly is keen to prove it is ‘not just 40-year-old men’ out there.
She said: ‘I think we’re in modern times and there’s nothing to stop girls getting involved in that kind of thing.’
‘It’s not the norm but it should be. It’s also something people don’t think about often, it’s not thought about enough in feminism.
‘I know some farmers daughters who don’t do anything to help their parents farm. Agriculture has been forgotten about by feminism.
Miss England contestant Milly Everatt is swapping modelling for lorries as she plans to get her HGV license after being spurred on by the lorry driver shortage last year. Milly Everatt aims to use the license to widen her skill set, believing that there’s nothing to stop girls getting involved in that kind of thing. Milly, 22, was a contestant in the 2018 Miss England contest, finishing 6th overall and earning the title Miss Charity after raising the most money for charity. Four years later and now stunning Milly is swapping modelling for heavy machinery, aiming to acquire her HGV license so she can operate a variety of hefty vehicles. This seems like a random choice, but for farmers daughter Milly, the two couldn’t be closer.
She is a former Miss Lincolnshire and a finalist in Miss England.
‘Anything that breaks the stereotype has to be a good thing. I want to prove its not just 40-year-old men that do this job and if it inspires other women to do the same, that would be amazing.’
The former Miss Lincolnshire was crowned Miss Charity in 2018 after raising the most money for good causes.
She recently won a free luxury trip to Mauritius with other five other Miss England finalists to stay at Lux Hotels & Resorts.
While she had a successful modelling career, getting an HGV license has ‘always been on her list of things to do’.
She said: ‘I should’ve done it at 18. But I was doing my A-Levels and then the pandemic happened so I put it off.
‘It’s something that I want to have under my belt. I have horses so it could help for that and I’ll can use it to take grain in – it’s something I’ll use every day while I’m on the farm.
‘The shortage of HGV drivers last year really spurred me on, it made me want to get it again.’
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Speaking about her training, she added: ‘There’s a lot to do to get a HGV licence, much more than your average driving licence and I’m currently focusing on the theory side.
‘I’ve been having a go of lorries on the yard and I’ll soon be out there on the roads all being well.
‘But when I first started to learn, it was funny when I hopped out of the lorry. I’m quite little and everyone laughed.’
