wire:
Mormon thing debunked in T&D
his father was a MethodistDon’t knock the Mormons!!! The biggest truckstop chain in the world is owned by them.
Yeah & they’re a rip off & the food is crap in them 
I would say that Stobarts may have provided more driving/warehouse jobs etc but while their growth has been eye opening the ‘general’ conditions for drivers have declined during Stobarts rise, for example.
With so many trucks on the road I ask have Stobarts lobbied for more Truckstops?
Requested better professional driver orientated facilities at MSA’s?
Used their influence to action more widespread use of fridge plug in’s at RDS (as opposed to diesel engines needlessly reving away all day)?
Offered more contract of employment positions as opposed to agency posts?
Seen the need for preventative measures to counter driver-wife marriage break-ups?
Identified cronieism in the traffic office?
And when was the last time they sponsered a driver to go to university? Or encouraged drivers to join further eductation classes and built it into their rosters?
If the answer is ‘generally’ no to the above, then Stobarts impact has been Hi-Viz, public friendly but in reality tepid to the people they rely on most…
Not up to your recent standard David H, not really Stobarts job to put anybody through University, they employ you to drive a lorry & that’s what they want you to do, they probably have a few ex drivers in the traffic office so there is some form of moving up the ladder, but driving a lorry has never really been a natural progression to brain surgery or quantum physics has it
I agree that a company with their high visibility to the public could’ve done more to lobby for decent parking spots & driver facilities, but disagree with the marriage guidance, if the wife don’t like you being away & you want to go tramping all week then you married the wrong girl, I’m sure there are instances where drivers have gone from tramping to day work & vice versa due to personal circumstances changing.
My personal opinion here…
Stobart has done much to raise the profile of the haulage industry in the public perception, clean smart trucks with tidy drivers gives a professional image and for that alone we should be grateful, anything that raises us above criminals in the public eye should be applauded.
The facilities they provide at the main depots for drivers again is a lesson that most oif the industry could learn from.
The only point that Stobart falls down for me is that despite this professional image they eminate, the wages they pay are not on that level.
There is not many industries that would give a person sole charge of in excess of £120,000 worth of machinery without close oversight , rely on that person to conform without oversight to a myriad of complex laws and regulations and pay that operator less an hour than a Mcdonalds burger flipper.
Generally drivers have to accept what they are given. As a group professional HGV drivers are powerless to change their lot. Change comes from above. Standards are what you make of them. MSA showers, food etc is basic but as you say neglected. University? I can think of few logistics companies the size of Stobart that offer Further Education or Higher Education packages to employees.
All the time I see drivers mired down in the ‘downtrodden but I’m proud put up with it’ lifestyle. As for wives and girlfriends, its a miserable, boring and all too often disapointing life for spouses that can change from bad to worse in minutes. Ask primary and secondary school teachers about lorry drivers and the impact of their job has on kids. Lets face it some, but certainly not all, drivers shun family responsibilities in favour of ‘the job’ because its easier to do so.
I’m no intellectual snob newmercman and I don’t knock Stobarts throughout but I do question their impact on the ‘lot’ regarding drivers since Stobarts expansion right through from the basics of using their influence towards improving MSA showers to the more forward thinking provision for education but maybe I’m wrong and they, and your good self, might very well know better than I do on the subject.
i know, and a few blokes on here will know an irish driver who religously, by his own choice, wears a shirt and tie in the truck, and has done for many many years
nobody knows how he doesnt get grease all over himself but he does not.
David H,
You make a very good point about the impact Stobart, amongst others, could have on the policies of the MSA & RDC operators as far as driver facilities go, i hadn’t considered that at all.
I agree with you about drivers choosing a life on the road rather than accepting their responsibilities at home, we’ve all seen it, drivers staying in the yard to avoid going home, I don’t think the job is the sole problem here as the staying away from home is often a symptom rather than the cause, so it’s unfair to blame the job for that alone, my Dad was rarely home before i went to bed & gone before I got up the next morning & I did ok, a lot of us on here are 2nd/3rd generation lorry drivers who lived this way turned out ok, but society today is very different & I suppose if Stobarts et all are evolution then it’s something that should be factored in.
As it is, it appears that Stobarts placing a great deal of importance on the image of it’s lorries & drivers was a business decision made purely to increase the company bank balance rather than make a drivers life any better.
david h before you put down a family man going out tramping all week…let me put this to you…
i worked for a company called langdons and before that coop out of halesowen on frozen food…at langdons i was just about keeping our heads above water money was not the best …at coop i was going out at 3 in morning and working max hours which included a saturday so i hardly seen kids…me and my partner made a JOINT decision to see how tramping would work, so i applied to a few companies and the best deal i got was at stobarts…
im now £200 a week better off but id change that like a shot to be home every night…before i changed jobs we lived on a council estate full of druggies and lager louts…and crime was bad, and my neighbours kept us up all hours with loud music…me going out all week as helped us move house…onto a better area…were my kids will hopefully have a better lifestyle. i refuse to work overtime because come a thursday i just want get home friday to see my family…my partner as to work a saturday so im with kids all weekend…ive sacrifised going out with mates cause on weekends my time is 100 percent family time…so before you slag off trampers dont tar us with all the same brush…MY FAMILY WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST
stvme2519:
david h before you put down a family man going out tramping all week…let me put this to you…
i worked for a company called langdons and before that coop out of halesowen on frozen food…at langdons i was just about keeping our heads above water money was not the best …at coop i was going out at 3 in morning and working max hours which included a saturday so i hardly seen kids…me and my partner made a JOINT decision to see how tramping would work, so i applied to a few companies and the best deal i got was at stobarts…
im now £200 a week better off but id change that like a shot to be home every night…before i changed jobs we lived on a council estate full of druggies and lager louts…and crime was bad, and my neighbours kept us up all hours with loud music…me going out all week as helped us move house…onto a better area…were my kids will hopefully have a better lifestyle. i refuse to work overtime because come a thursday i just want get home friday to see my family…my partner as to work a saturday so im with kids all weekend…ive sacrifised going out with mates cause on weekends my time is 100 percent family time…so before you slag off trampers dont tar us with all the same brush…MY FAMILY WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST
good post.
where in my post do i knock Mormons
nowhere
what is the biggest truckstop chain (does it sell coffee and alcohol)
is it owned by the church
or do you mean the owner is a Mormon
Chill Hitch,
He’s refering to the Flying J truckstops in Canada & the USA, nothing to do with Stobart, just a little joke for us lot over this side of the water 
I said ‘some, but certainly not all’ drivers shirk their family responsibilities. So if your in the ‘not all’ catagory whats the problem? I replied to a ‘men only’ post that said basically ‘women should know their place and put up with it’. This sort of macho image no longer suits truck drivers.
I gave up long hours and nights away to spend more time at home with my wife and kids I know far too many people that have became single recently due to many problenms and some including the hours trucvkers work.
For ME being at home with a few less quid in my pocket is far more important than wads of cash and not being there when they need me for homework etc.
My son is learning to play the Cornet at the min ute seeing that a few times a week in the evening is priceless.
jammymutt id swap with you like a shot mate…but are circumstances had got to the point were family life was suffering… i was gettin home knackered and tired so id get stroppy and stupidly wound up …one of reasons was tiredness other was worrying about money …me and partner would just sit there in silence watching tv cause we were both shattered…kids couldnt get treated and were we was living was getting us down…and i didnt want to bring my kids up living like that…we are a young family twin boys 5 years old im 32 and partner is 27…if i could id be home everynight and id sod the money i would…but there is no thin line to balances things out …now as a familly unit we tend to make more of weekends making sure we do something every weekend we can …but if it got to the point were tramping was effecting our relationship family would win hands down
What Stobart have done is lift the profile of the industry like no other. They have changed the industry for good and I can’t see anyone catching up with Stobarts or repeating their success.
This same conversation will be repeated in France on the forums about Norbert, and probably to a point about our company. The German forums are full of tales about Billie Betz or Nicky Hammerer
Any big company will get bad press about them eating virgins and sacrificing babies. Some do it better than others. DHL is a big company, but the treatment of drivers and the contracts lack a lot compared to big bad eddie.
Hi Why Do People Knock EDDIE STOBART■■?
May Be Because He Had The Guts To Have A GO. He Made A Comment Some Years Ago Do Not Subcontract Work. Go And Get It Direct…Perhaps More People Should Have Taken Note…Thats Wot He Did… Every One Had The Same Chance.?.But No One Had The ■■■■■■■■ To Do It. GOOD Of You EDDIE… I Have Nevver Sub For Him.But I Do Know Someone That Had Four Vehicles Working For Him .And Was PAID ON TIME EVERY TIME…Most Probably Thay Do Not Like To See Someone Getting ON.And His FLEET Dos Look The Part.
So ALL Them BAD Payers NON Payers & CRAP PAYERS. PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK EDDIE Because He MADE IT…