YELLOW Buses is launching a drive today to get more women behind the wheel of its vehicles.

The Bournemouth-based firm said that the tide was slowly turning in the male-dominated profession and it now had almost 30 female drivers.

But, as a firm with around 350 drivers in all, it wants to up those numbers, believing that a better balance of male and female drivers will help it improve its service.

Today, it is holding an open day at its Yeomans Road depot between 1pm and 7pm.

One of the female contingent, Vanessa Knowling, 38, was a UK Bus Awards finalist.

She said: “I had never thought about driving a bus, but I filled in the application form and went for an interview and then I started training. During the training they said that with some of the elderly you might be the only person who speaks to them all day and the job is as much about making people happy as anything else.”