Truck-bus tragedy kills driver

A HANDYWOMAN business operated by strong and powerful women is far from sexist — it is inspirational, a Leopold business owner says.

Owner and tradeswoman Laura Thompson has been running her Leopold business Ladie Tradie, which is operated entirely by women, for almost a year.

And according to the ‘ladie tradie’ herself, there’s nothing a woman can’t do — women can fix and build household furniture and items, lift heavy objects and even start their own trades business.

Thompson has drilled and hammered her way to success, rising above backlash from haters who initially considered the business “sexist”.

“When I first started advertising for employees, I got a lot of trouble from people who were saying I was being sexist,” she said.

“But I fought back — there’s ‘Hire a Hubby’, so what’s the difference in my case?”

According to ABS data from 2018, just 1 per cent of construction trades workers were women, while figures for all female trades workers sat at just 15 per cent.

Ladie Tradie offers a range of handywoman tasks to clients, including cabinet-making, building furniture and landscaping.

The all-female business targets clients who may feel a bit intimidated by male tradies, or would prefer a woman’s eye for detail.

Thompson said handywomen were just as handy as their handymen counterparts — if not handier.

“I found a lot of people like the female approach to it, rather than a guy coming into their house with muddy boots and telling them what they want — instead of what they actually want,” she said.

“There’s a lot of eye to detail — it’s not just a job to me.”

Thompson has also been awarded a $10,000 grant from H&R Block to further boost and transform Ladie Tradie from a start-up into a mainstream business.

“I’m really proud of how far I’ve come in the past year and to be able to hire females and make a difference in Geelong,” she said. A BUS driver has died and at least nine passengers are injured after a bus carrying 45 passengers crashed into the dislodged trailers of a truck near Horsham.

Police believe the B-double truck was travelling ahead of the bus when its trailers dislodged, blocking the highway and causing the crash near Pimpinio, west of Horsham, about 2am yesterday.

The male bus driver, 60, from Ferntree Gully, died at the scene. Nine passengers were treated by paramedics, with two flown to Melbourne.

The other seven were taken to a local hospital for treatment, while the rest of the passengers were also assessed.

Some passengers had to be extracted from the bus windows because the front of the bus was significantly damaged.

“It appears a truck trailer has rolled over and a passenger bus has crashed into that trailer,” Detective Sergeant Christopher Hayes, of the Major Collision Investigation Unit, said. “They’re quite clearly travelling in the same direction, but the question is how far apart.”

The truck driver, a man, 36, from Murray Bridge, South Australia, and his female passenger, 22, also of South Australia, were uninjured.

Police said fatigue, mechanics, drugs, alcohol and wet and windy weather would be investigated to see if they were a factor, as well as the actions of the bus driver when he encountered the situation.

“Sadly it’s had a horrible outcome for him, but the potential for death and injury is enormous, I can’t overstate it,” Det Sgt Hayes said. “Those people will be shaken up, there’s no question about it.

“Some of them obviously are injured and will have a physical reminder of this event, but the psychological scars that will echo throughout their lives, the impacts multiply.”

The two people flown to Royal Melbourne Hospital have non-life threatening injuries.