INDUSTRYNEWS
SPONSORED BY SECURITY HARDWARE
COMPUTERS,
CABS AND NOW –
LOCKSMITHING
There are still only a few female
locksmiths in the UK industry,
though gradually this will change as
more women enter the industry.
LSJ Editor Pat Gwynnette caught up with
one woman who has confounded gender
stereotyping throughout her working
life to date. Karen Menpes (44) who
lives in Isleworth, Middlesex, not far
from West London, decided to become
a locksmith after she witnessed a highly
destructive illegal method of entry in the
home of a relative.
“I found this very alarming,” Karen
explained. “The mortice lock had the bolt
cut off from it, which damaged the door
and, of course, ruined the lock. That’s
when I decided that I wanted to find out as
much as possible about locksmithing and
how to gain legal, legitimate entry into a
property in a less destructive way.”
Karen had begun her working life as a
computer engineer – again a not so usual
choice for a woman – but Karen was
always interested in how things work,
analysing technical problems and devising
solutions.
“I had held a computer engineer
position for 14 years when the dot com
bubble burst and major redundancies
followed,” she explained. “So I decided
that being a computing employee was not
for me anymore, and I wanted something
totally different – so I trained to become a
8
THE MAY/JUN 2014 ISSUE
SPONSORED BY ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions
London Black taxi driver. The training took
me just under three years before I was
granted my licence.”
Driving a cab is in ever-busier city streets
is often challenging and can be dangerous
- but Karen has enjoyed her time behind
the wheel.
ONE OF THE RISKS
“I have driven my black taxi for almost a
decade and the worst thing that happened
to me in that time was being cornered by
an illegal minicab driver in Harlesden.
I was blocked into a dead-end road by
the illegal driver at about 11.30 at night.
Harlesden is notorious for gun crime and
a lot of people in the area are on drugs, so
I was scared, but at the same time I was
ready to protect myself and my taxi. Police
eventually had to be called as I as to run
from my taxi into another street.”
Sadly – and unbelievably in the 21st
century - in some professions there is still
prejudice against women, but Karen says
she did not encounter this as a cab driver.
“I am always polite to my customers
and I think some of the male cabbies get
more grief from than me, since they tend
to drive the drunks about late at night,”
she said.
“Since I left my career as a computing
engineer, I have always had a thirst for
finding out how something worked. Taxi
driving was fine but it was not utilising
my technical abilities and after the
break-in incident at one of my relative’s
homes, I became interested in locks and it
stemmed from there.
Karen believes that more women
should train as locksmiths, though she
appreciates that there are risks involved.
“I feel that it’s nice to have more women
in a traditionally male-dominated trade,”
she said. “Some customers may prefer
to have a choice of who they select to
carry out work in their homes. There
are lots of female doctors, lawyers, MPs,
accountants – and now an increasing
number of females entering the various
trades such as plumbing, joinery etc, so
w