Female train driver stars on cover of Vogue

Coronavirus: Fashion magazine honours women working on the pandemic’s front line

Three female front line workers will be the cover stars of British Vogue next month. A London Overground train driver, an east London midwife and a King's Cross supermarket worker were photographed by Jamie Hawkesworth for the fashion magazine.

The train driver is Narguis Horsford, who has worked for Transport for London for 10 years and driven trains for the past five.

She is based at a depot in Willesden Junction, north-west London. I drive two routes: Stratford to Richmond/Clapham Junction and also Gospel Oak to Barking.

“I am no hero, but I’m proud of being a train driver and the essential role we are playing during the coronavirus crisis,” she said. “Our services are vitally important to keep London moving throughout these unprecedented times and maintaining safety, to ensure our key workers can get to where they need to be to provide the services that are required.”

Horsford said that she has seen a great deal of community spirit during the pandemic and received supportive comments from passengers. “People have been smiling more at me and I’ve received a few 'thank yous'!”

She said she is not anxious about going to work, but distances herself from my family because she works the front line. “They do worry, especially my grandmother,” she said. “This has certainly shown us that life is short. And we can’t take anything for granted. I can’t see myself doing anything else.”

The other cover stars are, Rachel Millar, a community midwife at Homerton Hospital, in east London, and Anisa Omar, a supermarket assistant at the London King’s Cross branch of Waitrose.

Vogue's editor-in-chief Edward Enninful said of the three women: “They represent the millions of people in the UK who, at the height of the pandemic, put on their uniforms and went to help. This moment in history required something extra special, a moment of thanks to the new front line."