Knowledge puts mum Sam on the road to new career
16 June 2010
A single mum-of-four is hitting the road in a black cab to pin down a job flexible enough to fit around the kids.
Samantha Dillon, 43, whose children are aged from 11 to 17, spends 16 hours a week studying The Knowledge - the daunting training black cab drivers undergo to learn the map of London.
Female black cabbies are still rare and she took the plunge after struggling to find a job that allowed her to look after her family.
Ms Dillon, who lives in Haringey Park, Crouch End, said: "The freedom, I think that's what appealed to me the most. If the children needed me, I could just stop work and go and be with them.
"That was the biggest difficulty for me to get back into work or any kind of training."
She reached the first goalpost recently, passing a map test after learning 320 road routes by heart and the study continues. The Knowledge takes at least two years to pass and drivers must memorise 25,000 London streets and the quickest routes between destinations.
A grant of £1,495 from the Barclaycard Horizons Your Education fund made her career change possible.
It was delivered by the charity Family Action, which helps lone parents with the costs of career training. "We're all going to benefit," said Ms Dillon. "After many years of looking after the children I'm now having a new lease of life.
"I'm the kids' mum always, but I'm Sam now as well! My children can see me independent, and they can see that if I can go back and study, they can do anything."
Of London's 23,000 black cab drivers, only five per cent approximately are women.
Source; tottenhamjournal.co.uk
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