An MC licenced interstate truckie, all Katie Watson wanted was a shower after finishing a long day on the road.
She pulled into the BP service station in Scoresby, Victoria, located on EastLink and asked the attendant for a shower key – and couldn’t believe what followed.
Katie, 37, got into truck driving professionally about four years ago, but was already learning the ropes from her father and grandfather from as young as 15, driving trucks around the family farm.
From behind the wheel of a Kenworth T610 she pulls B-doubles and road trains from Melbourne and into Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Along with working for a refrigerated transport company, she has also just started her own transport company called Haunted Haulage, where she transports concrete from Melbourne to Brisbane.
Katie says she’s experienced a number of sexist incidents since she got into truck driving but nothing quite like this.
“My depot is only about 25 minutes from the service station, so I parked the truck at the depot, jumped in my car and headed to BP for a shower – which I’ve done plenty of times and never had an issue,” she said.
“They’ll usually say the showers are just for truck drivers, but once I show my truck licence, it’s never a problem. Then I can go back to the depot and go to bed in the truck.”
But about a week ago, it was a very different story.
“I came in behind another truckie, he was handed a shower key without any issue – the attendant didn’t ask him for a licence or anything. I walked in about 30 seconds later and was told the showers are only for truck drivers,” explained Katie.
“I thought I might have that problem because I pulled up in a car, so I showed him my open MC licence. He just kept saying, ‘You’re not a truck driver, I’m not giving you a key’.”
After explaining that she was on a seven-hour break and just wanted a shower so she could head back to the depot and get to sleep, before a trip to Adelaide in the morning, Katie thought she was getting somewhere.
“He took my car keys and looked like he was about to hook the keys up… then he held them up in my face and threw them down on the bench in front of me. He was talking down to me the entire time and said again, ‘Well I’m not giving you the shower key – you’re not a truck driver!’
Katie regularly stops at the Scoresby BP for meals and to fuel up but says she hasn’t been there since.
“I really needed a shower, I didn’t want to go back to the truck all dirty. The attendant literally argued with me in front of two other truck drivers for 10 minutes. One of them actually said you can see her truck licence, just give her the key.
“I’ve never been belittled and treated that way – ever.”
So instead, Katie gave up and went to BCF, where she spent $380 on a drop-down caravan shower. “I ended up having a shower on the side of the road on my way to Adelaide.”
She continued, “Being a female truck driver, I do get this sometimes, but when I’ve shown them my ID, it hasn’t been a problem. It’s a double standard and it’s sexist.
“It made me so nervous about walking into the next BP to have a shower. It’s actually affected my confidence. The next time I stopped was at the BP in Wallan and they’ve always been nice there. I’ve never had an issue.”
Following the incident at BP Scoresby, Katie called to speak to the manager and says she finally got through to her after four attempts.
“I told her I needed to speak to her about what happened last night,” recalled Katie. “She asked if I was that car driver who came in wanting a shower. I said, ‘no, I’m the truck driver who came in on my break’.”
“She defended the staff member and when she saw I wasn’t having it, she said she’ll make sure he knows he needs to make an exception for me.
“I said I’ll just stop somewhere else where people don’t think I’m ‘an exception’.
“Like other women driving trucks, we just have a passion for it and want to be able to do our job and then have a shower at the end of the day!”
UPDATE: Since this story was published, a new truckie shower policy has been put into place at 16 Melbourne BP service stations.
I will inform my BP Servo I will no longer shop there for fuel.
I think he may have been unreasonable but only acting on orders. Just because you have a licence it doesn’t give you right of entry to work sights. Maybe she should have stopped in the truck. Showered and gone to depot. Surely the depot would have showers.
‘ Just because you have a licence it doesn’t give you right of entry to work sights. Maybe she should have stopped in the truck. Showered and gone to depot. Surely the depot would have showers.’
It’s not a ‘work site ‘, it’s a servo.
Maybe she just wanted to park her rig and sign off for the day.
Surely if the depot had showers she wouldn’t feel the need to drive to the bloody servo and washing a communal convenience..
Sue for sexual discrimination. As if you don’t, the message will not sink in!
She needs to be in a truck at the BP- not a car.
Shouldn’t matter what you turn up in, if you’re a driver you’re a driver that’s it male / female, whatever, its full stop.,
The narrow minded attendee in my opinion should have been more courteous to a truck driving hero.
It’s just someone that just wants a fen shower for f sake. Seriously.