A FORMER receptionist is forging a career in the maledominated world of digger driving.

Sarah Garbutt took her qualifications to drive excavators after being laid off from her office job due to the economic downturn.

Ms Garbutt, from Ingleby Arncliffe, near Northallerton, North Yorkshire, has now secured a job in the industry with Agrivert Limited.

She had always harboured an interest in taking control of large vehicles since leaving school, but had never attempted to achieve her ambition, instead taking office-based roles as a receptionist and in recruitment.

She said: “If I mentioned an interest in having a go at driving something like a digger, I was just asked why I would ever want to. People laughed it off as a joke or tried to tell me how difficult it would be working with only men on a site.

“It was enough to put me off, especially when I was busy working just to get by, so I never took my interest any further.”

However, after being made redundant, she obtained her CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) card for a 360-degree excavator above ten tonnes.

Ms Garbutt said: “I’m a handson, practical type of person and office work was never what I wanted to do.

“I decided it was time to try and improve my employment prospects and do a course.

“I came to the conclusion that if I was going to do a course, it may as well be in something I had always wanted to do.”

She added: “After the test, I was convinced I’d failed, but then my instructor came over to give me the good news that I’d qualified. I was so thrilled, I felt I was walking on air.”

She obtained her qualification through Tyneside Training Services, a provider of construction plant and logistics based training courses with 40 years of experience in the North- East.