When Begoña first stepped into the cab of a truck in Valencia, she was learning a new job in a world where women were almost invisible. With 31 years of experience in the transport sector, she has become a rare voice for female truck drivers in Spain, openly sharing the realities of her profession and the personal choices that have shaped her life.
Begoña’s journey began alongside her husband, spending six years as his co-driver. Those early days, as she recalls, were the “last echoes of the old trucker lifestyle.” She started from scratch, learning to maneuver heavy vehicles and facing the curiosity, sometimes mixed with skepticism, of colleagues unaccustomed to seeing a woman behind the wheel. “I would arrive at a warehouse and everyone would come out to see me, because I was the first woman they’d ever seen driving a truck,” she remembers.
Her husband became her mentor, encouraging her to ignore doubters and focus on her own progress. “They know less than you,” he would say, helping her build the confidence to master the job. But the challenges extended far beyond the road. Balancing long hours with family life proved especially tough. Begoña recalls a moment when her four-year-old daughter insisted she wanted to be “a truck driver like mom,” only to have her teacher correct her, assuming she meant her father. The child’s determined response, “No, like my mom,” captures the quiet impact of Begoña’s example.
Today, Begoña uses her social media presence to raise the profile of a profession still seen as male territory. She is candid about pay and working hours, as well as the regulations governing her work. While her monthly earnings can reach €3,000, she is quick to point out that the compensation does not reflect the time and dedication required. The European Union’s Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, which applies to road haulage in Spain, sets a daily driving limit of nine hours, extendable to ten hours no more than twice a week. It requires a break of at least 45 minutes after no more than four and a half hours of driving, subject to permitted split-break arrangements. That threshold governs driving time, not the whole working day: freight handling and other duties, including vehicle checks and paperwork, can add to the time a driver spends on the job.
The regulation also sets weekly driving limits of 56 hours and 90 hours over two consecutive weeks, alongside daily and weekly rest requirements. A regular daily rest period is 11 hours, with specified reduced rests permitted; regular weekly rest is 45 hours, while a reduced weekly rest of at least 24 hours is allowed in qualifying circumstances and must be compensated. Tachograph records and national inspection systems help enforce the rules. The structure is intended both to improve road safety and to protect drivers’ social conditions, but compliance with driving limits does not remove the practical demands of long-haul work.
Those demands are part of a wider question of job quality. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre examines transport-related work through factors such as contract arrangements and career prospects, while also tracking working hours, with research covering Spain and Italy. These dimensions help explain why a monthly income alone cannot capture the costs of a job that may involve long schedules and time away from family.
Despite the demanding schedule and the sacrifices involved, Begoña remains proud of her path. She sums up her career as “the result of living her life by making her own decisions,” adapting her work to fit her family, not the other way around.
Information from elespanol motor, Begoña’s story highlights both progress and persistent barriers for women in Spanish transport. Her account of being a rare sight behind the wheel reflects her own experience of the profession; it also shows how visibility can challenge assumptions about who belongs in the driver’s seat. Stories like hers are helping encourage more women to consider a career in transport, while the working hours and employment arrangements that shape prospects for advancement remain basic to the sector’s wider job-quality debate.
