I can remember the big drive in the Fire Service to recruit more females back in the 90s. You had to show you could handle the equipment, and one problem a lot of the girlies had was reaching up to release the ladder bracket, so that you could slip the ladder off the back of the machine. This was also a problem for male applicants, if they were on the short side, but if they weren't tall enough to reach the bracket, well tough, go and apply for a job somewhere else.

Our bosses weren't going to let this stop the girlies getting in though, when this problem meant some female recruits had to be turned down, something had to be done, no expense was spared in re-designing the machines so that the bracket was lower to the ground and the more vertically challenged applicants could reach it.

We always said there was no such word as 'can't' in the Fire Service. Too bloody true.