The end of the white van man?
Calling someone a white van man is not the biggest compliment on earth. After all, the Collins dictionary describes the term as: a male van driver, often of a white van, whose driving is selfish and aggressive.
Apparently, the term was created by a Times journalist back in 1997. Twenty years later, the label may still be recognisable by many, but it’s arguable that the white van man stereotype is becoming a little dated.
A recent piece in the Telegraph looked at whether the stereotype should be dropped. It revealed that in the first half of this year, there were 100,316 new white vans registered compared to just 24,482 silver vans – clearly white vans are still the most popular neutral colour.
Add to this the increase in the number of vans about in general – van registrations saw a 1.8% reach this June - there are clearly a number of white vans on the roads. If the majority were aggressive drivers, the roads would be in absolute chaos!
With many small businesses using white vans to carry out their work, these days vans carry a company’s reputation about like a shell. The vans are usually branded with a company’s logo and contact details so it’s unlikely that their driver would want to do anything to jeopardise this.
Only last week ago that I was starting to go into something of a panic as my Sat Nav kept directing me to a pavement, with no sign of the company I was trying to visit on it. After having looped the area a few times and no doubt looking somewhat aggrieved, a guy leaned out of a white van and offered to help – seconds later I was zooming off towards the correct location. Quite the opposite of selfish behaviour.
So yes I’m for it, let’s drop the white van man term and its stereotypes!
Apparently, the term was created by a Times journalist back in 1997. Twenty years later, the label may still be recognisable by many, but it’s arguable that the white van man stereotype is becoming a little dated.
A recent piece in the Telegraph looked at whether the stereotype should be dropped. It revealed that in the first half of this year, there were 100,316 new white vans registered compared to just 24,482 silver vans – clearly white vans are still the most popular neutral colour.
Add to this the increase in the number of vans about in general – van registrations saw a 1.8% reach this June - there are clearly a number of white vans on the roads. If the majority were aggressive drivers, the roads would be in absolute chaos!
With many small businesses using white vans to carry out their work, these days vans carry a company’s reputation about like a shell. The vans are usually branded with a company’s logo and contact details so it’s unlikely that their driver would want to do anything to jeopardise this.
Only last week ago that I was starting to go into something of a panic as my Sat Nav kept directing me to a pavement, with no sign of the company I was trying to visit on it. After having looped the area a few times and no doubt looking somewhat aggrieved, a guy leaned out of a white van and offered to help – seconds later I was zooming off towards the correct location. Quite the opposite of selfish behaviour.
So yes I’m for it, let’s drop the white van man term and its stereotypes!
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