Helen Overton has never confused a fan belt for a fashion accessory and knows just what to do if a starter motor fails to start.
But as one of the growing number of female car mechanics in Shropshire she hopes that more women start taking notice of what happens under the bonnet.
She can certainly strip a gearbox as efficiently as could any man in the business.
Helen is a qualified technician and MOT tester at Greenhous, in Telford. Her male colleagues consider her as much a part of the team as any of them, but customers can sometimes find a woman in the workshop surprising.
“I get a few looks when I am testing their cars. Where I test there’s a viewing bay and they can stand and watch me. You can see their faces leaning against the window.
“We have had a couple of blokes who have got a bit shirty. We had a guy come in a few years ago and he refused to talk to the female receptionist saying she wouldn’t understand what he was talking about.
“He demanded to speak to a technician and I came out. He was taken aback at first, but he was alright in the end. It brought him down a peg or two.”
Helen, of Ketley, Telford, was brought up around cars as a youngster. Her father used to go banger racing and worked on the cars himself.
“At school I was always good with metalwork and woodwork. When it was time to do work experience at school they asked what placement I would like to do.”
Helen got the placement she wanted with Greenhous and when she finished school the company offered her a YTS scheme.
She went on to qualify in motor vehicle mechanics training at Shrewsbury and Telford technical colleges followed by CENTREX, centre for the training for the motor and road transport industry, at High Ercall.
Helen believes she has brought something extra to the team at Greenhous.
“They have been very good. No problems at all. They think it’s good to have a female in the workshop.”
But outside of work she can still get that “amazed” reaction when she tells people what she does for a living.
“Sometimes people don’t believe me. Or they think ‘what do you actually do - the simple jobs?’ If only they could see me stripping and repairing gear boxes.
“I am in the situation where at work I look like somebody who needs a good scrub up. But when I get home, washed and changed, put on a dress, do my make-up and hair I transform myself. A lot of people wouldn’t recognise me.”
Helen is also keen for other women to know how to look after their cars because it is safer for them.
She also runs an occasional basic mechanics course for women in Shropshire at Telford & Wrekin College.
2 Comments
Its about time more women got to grips with car repairs and understanding what goes on under the cars bonnet. I am an ex car mechanic myself and i wish there had been some lady mechanics around when i was training lol.
I restore, maintain and show vintage engines. When I’m on a vintage rally field and I’m preparing the engines for the day’s running, oiling and re-fuelling etc. in full view of visiting public - it’s the women who give me looks of contempt and scorn. I fully admire Helen for being a professional mechanic. I’d rather be covered in oil and mucky stuff knowing I’m doing a good job, than be some pathetic little woman who’s too arrogant to get her hands dirty. A lot of them won’t even wash their own cars, expecting their partners/husbands to do it, let alone get under the bonnet. And, like Helen, I’m totally unrecognisable when I’m ’scrubbed up’ and ‘being a girl’.