New Brakes livery celebrates International Women’s Day

The latest addition to the wholesaler’s fleet is deliver an important message, with a new livery featuring three women in different wholesale roles to encourage women to consider a career in the industry

The new vehicle, which is designed in purple, the colour of International Women’s Day, goes into service on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2023. It will be based initially at Brakes’ Warrington depot, before embarking on a tour of Brakes depots as a moving billboard to advertise some of the opportunities on offer.

Margaret Gooch, HR Director, Sysco in Great Britain, said: ““Women are under-represented in wholesale and we saw International Women’s Day as the perfect opportunity to get our latest vehicle on the road, emblazoned with photographs of women in a range of roles across the business.

“Within Sysco, we aspire to create a culture that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. We want to encourage people to apply to the company without restriction and ensure that we do what we can to remove systemic barriers and biases so that outcomes are based only on an individual’s talents, gifts and work.”

Aicha Lahsen will be the first to take control of the new vehicle. She said: “I love my career as a driver at Brakes, so it’ll be nice to encourage other women to follow in my footsteps. While it’s still unusual to see a woman driving a HGV, with the support of companies like Brakes, it won’t be long before we see more women behind the wheel.”

The launch of the new vehicle, which was led by Clare Lowrie, Senior Learning & Development Partner at Sysco in Great Britain, is part of the ongoing activities by IMPACT (which stands for Influence, Mentor, Potential, Achieve, Collaborate, Transform), which is the Sysco in GB female-focused colleague resource group. The group was founded in 2019 with a mandate to create safe spaces for women to share their stories, support each other and improve female colleague experiences, inspiring them to reach their goals and be advocates in driving balance for better.

Brakes Claire Lowrie delivery International Women's Day Margaret Gooch Sysco vehicles