The past few decades have witnessed a major shift in gender demographics of drivers around the world, with markets such as the US seeing more women holding driver’s licenses than men. Like most of the associated sectors, towing, and trucking in general, are seeing major changes that reflect this trend. In fact, the American Trucking Association estimates the number of active truck drivers to drop by 175,000 by 2025. To fill this gap, many companies are putting programs in place to specifically recruit women in this hitherto male-dominated sector.
However, despite the ever increasing numbers in women drivers in the Middle East, lady-driven roadside assistance and recovery trucks is a concept that is still alien to the region. Now IMC, or International Motoring Club, the leading player in the emergency roadside assistance sector in UAE since 2003, has announced that it is making a foray into this untapped sector by introducing the country’s first ever fleet of tow trucks driven by women. The company has already recruited and trained a crew of ladies to operate the recovery trucks that have been branded ‘Pink’ to go along with the concept.
“These trucks have been primarily driven by men all these years and with the ever increasing number of lady-driven cars in the region, we have come up with the idea of having lady-driven recovery trucks to cater to these customers,” says Vince Joe, Executive Director of IMC. While underscoring the firm’s commitment to its lady customers, the initiative to induct female drivers is part of its drive to promote equality and provide equal opportunities to all. “We have recruited female drivers who will be on field, driving recovery trucks and providing recovery services. This initiative is to promote equal opportunities for all and making women customers feel safe and comfortable dealing with them,” Joe adds.
Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, IMC has operations across the GCC. Primarily a B2B company associated with the insurance and banking sectors, IMC handles a portfolio of over 2 million customers. The company’s main services include providing towing services in UAE for accident and breakdowns along with other onsite works like battery boosting, flat tyres and lock-out among others.
IMC’s in-house multi lingual call centre takes in more than 2,000 phone calls and provide close to 1,000 emergency services every day with the help of its fleet of 200-plus recovery vehicles.
