‘I opened London’s first all-female garage’
LAURA KENNEDY, 39, LIVES IN LONDON AND FOUNDED SPANNERS WITH MANNERS
On an average working day you’ll find me under a bonnet servicing a car and having a good laugh. Every day is different and I love it, but as a kid I was convinced I was going to be the next Sporty Spice.
I left school at 17 and worked in the admin office for Mercedes. By 22, I’d got a job as a receptionist at a car dealership. One night, watching Eastenders, I saw a female mechanic – Carly Wicks – and decided I was going to train as one too, like my grandad.
I always loved fixing things. Once my apprenticeship began the house was filled with car parts – carburettors on the stairs, exhaust pipes in the hallway – it drove Mum mad. One day there were five cars parked on the drive!
At college I was the first female to study mechanics and lads would joke, “You can’t lift that, you’re a girl!” But I made it on to the cover of the college prospectus. For work experience, I tried 30 garages, but they all eyed me with surprise and said, “Sorry luv.” One didn’t even have a women’s toilet.
After college, at 25, I worked in various all-male garages. Most had never met a gay female mechanic before.
SEXIST ATTITUDES
The more I progressed with my career, the angrier men got. One colleague even swung a hammer at me because I’d failed his car’s MOT. “Your car’s dangerous,” I told him, before he went ballistic about the fact I had authority. Thankfully my boss intervened and told him I was right. Most garages are just how you’d expect them to be – a volatile environment with lots of rows over work and a pin-up calendar on the wall.
I’m comfortable with my sexuality, but judgement and prejudice are draining. Once a male customer sent his wife out of earshot and asked me, “Do you like men or women? Do you want to come to the gym with me?” Another said, “Come on a date with me and I’ll change you.”
Some men ignored me completely, but there were nice colleagues too, who shared their knowledge. And female customers made a beeline for me – I think I reassured them.
After 16 years in all-male garages I started my own business, where I hired female apprentices from my old college. Spanners With Manners is London’s first all-female garage and my wife Siobhan is the manager. It’s like working with your best friends – there are no sexist jokes and the atmosphere is never uncomfortable. We’re often contacted by female apprentices, which is so exciting.
Being a mechanic isn’t a man’s job any more. Women generally have smaller hands to make light work of hard-to-reach jobs. Customers aren’t intimidated by us and that makes me proud.
Forget barriers in life. If you want to do something you’re good at in a maledominated world, get out there and do it.
See Spannerswithmanners.co.uk and @spannerswithmanners on Instagram