WoMAN on tour
By changing job, Bianca Vermeeren is fulfilling a long-held dream. Her participation in the Belgian ‘Love2truck’ competition shows the passion with which she’s on the go as a trucker with her MAN TGX.
One year ago, Bianca Vermeeren abandoned the job she had then as a salesperson at a market and finally took the plunge into her dream job. She had dreamed of driving right from her childhood. But the path to it wasn’t easy. “Three years ago, I would have never dared to dream of it,” says Bianca. Then she lost the hearing in her right ear after a failed operation. When, after three further operations, the doctors gave her no hope that she would hear normally again, the mother of four was devastated. Nevertheless, she had thought a lot in this period about what she could and wanted to start doing with her life. When she was given the opportunity of participating in a study for an implant that offered her the prospect of regaining some of her hearing, she decided to accept. “I seized the chance with both hands and decided, with an anxious heart, to get the implant. Today, two years later, I can say that I’m very glad to have done it. It was torture for a long time, but it gave me so much fighting spirit.”
Starting in a new job field
Bianca also has this fighting spirit to thank for her new start as a trucker – a new role that she couldn’t be pursuing more passionately. “I’m happy to get back in my green beast and enjoy every day,” confides Bianca.
“I get up every day with a smile.”
The ‘green beast’ is a MAN TGX 18.470 – a real ‘supercar’, according to Bianca – and she enjoys the rich variety and the freedoms that the new job entails. The routes are different each day – only the timetable is fixed. And so she’s on the go with her MAN TGX either in Belgium, the Netherlands or France. She says that there’s great solidarity and support among colleagues, and the likeable driver is also very grateful to Segers (Head of Transportation). “He employed me without any experience or knowledge of the sector, and nevertheless gave me this chance. I’m still very happy about that every day!”
Bianca leaves no doubt that women are just as good as men at this job. She’s very proud to have gained a foothold in this job. This is also expressed by the logo ‘WoMAN’, which beams out at you from her grass-green MAN together with a lion’s head. Bianca herself stands out with her own look, and she’s also treated her lion to quite a special look – especially in the interior.“I take care of my truck and do it up nicely. After all, I spend the whole day in it. I sleep in it and it’s also my living room.”
Her application to the Belgian ‘Love2truck’ competition, which looks for the most passionate driver or trucker in Belgium, demonstrates how very convinced she is herself of this new professional focus. Bianca is the only women in the final, alongside five male candidates.And no matter how the competition goes in the end for Bianca, she is and will remain a passionate trucker.