How the first female Tube driver paved the way for others

The first female Tube driver paved the way for more women on the London Underground. But 55 years after she started her career, women are still underrepresented in the industry.

Hannah Dadds has been etched into British transport history as the first female Tube driver.

She paved the way for hundreds of others after her, but campaigners have highlighted the ‘alarmingly’ low rate of women in transport jobs.

Dadds opened doors for other women to become drivers when she started her career with the London Transport in 1969 as a ‘stationwoman.’

Almost ten years later, she stepped into the driver’s cabin on the London Underground as the first female driver.

This is her journey to change the industry during her 15-year career on the driver’s seat.

‘Women have been held back too long’

After starting as a stationwoman, Dadds was promoted to become a ticket collector and a guard.

Guards like her had to be able to move a train in an emergency and training was offered to those who wanted to become drivers. Except until 1975, women were not allowed to do so.

Dadds swam against the current at the time, saying ‘women have been held back too long.’

‘If they can do a job, they should be allowed to,’ she said.

Eventually in 1975 when the Sex Discrimination Act passed, women could no longer be blocked from taking up roles like driving the Tube.

Dadds was the first woman to qualify in October 1978 and she was the only woman in her class. It wasn’t long until her sister Edna qualified as a driver too.

What now seems like a role for all genders, at the time her stepping up in the driver’s cabin made headlines. Dadds was whisked from one TV and radio appearance to another.

However, women becoming drivers did not change the industry overnight – for example, depots had no toilets or separate showers for women, the Museum listed.

If you travelled on the District, Bakerloo and Jubilee lines between 1978 and 1993, the likelihood it was driven by Dadds is high.

Dadds hung up her driver’s uniform in 1993 when she retired. She died in 2011 at the age of 69. Passengers can now spot a commemorative plaque at Upton Park station in east London.

Laura Sleath, a senior curator at London Transport Museum, told Metro: ‘Hannah Dadds was a true pioneer.  

‘She certainly helped change 1970s attitudes to women Tube drivers and opened up opportunities for others to follow in her footsteps.  

‘Together with her sister Edna, who also qualified as a train operator around the same time, they soon became the first of many in the decades to come.’

Around 23% of people in the transport sector are women, but more than half of them are in non-transport roles, the latest figures by Women in Transport show.

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