Personally if they are recruiting and offering good money Iād always take it, if you donāt like it you can move to something else. If you do, then sod what anyone else thinks.
Why does the age of the lorry you drive matter, aslong as itās reliable and roadworthy? Canāt understand peoplesā obsession with driving new kit??
Donāt go for the trucks, really not worth it.
But, no, theyāre not that bad in my experience, but Iāve only ever been on agency.
The trailers are well maintained though, so opening and closing curtains is quite easy compared to most places Iāve worked - BUT, most only open (unratchet) from the front, so if on multi drop, can be a pain.
Wages arenāt as bad as they appear, but theyāre not the best around, but not the worst either.
Ā£500 a week and home every night, youād be crazy to give it up to go to Stobarts!!
From an āeditedā TV show, Iād have thought that told you everything you need to know.
Pushed, stressed, tracked every minute of the day, nearly always late with only five minās to find a parking-up space for the night.
Why would you want to give up what you already have?
BuzzardBoy:
Ā£500 a week and home every night, youād be crazy to give it up to go to Stobarts!!
Yep, donāt leave.
I Tramped for them for a few months and itās not great. The motors are only fleet spec, nothing special. If you absolutely maxed your hours you take about Ā£600-Ā£650 per week home but youāre away all week for that.
The work is varied and fairly easy (I was General Haulage) and the trailers are well maintained but donāt believe everything they tell you. I spent most nights in laybyās and Industrial Estates, not their depots!
In my opinion, youād be mad to leave what you have, especially the wages youāre on but if youāre pig headed like me and wonāt listen to advice then good luck. 
You lot are begining to talk me out of it. All i really want is to drive a nice big lorry. I know it sounds stupid but what can i do lol. Keep the messages comin in and ill give that idea 
Sorry mateyā¦but a nice big lorry doesnt always pay the billsā¦but a smaller one, home every night, and Ā£500 a week aint that badā¦you could do worse, or could do better, but whatever you chooseā¦you will still be a truckerā¦
If its only you then by all means follow your dream.If you have a wife and CHILDREN to think about then the responsible thing to do is stay in your above average job.
Trucker8oy:
at the moment i earn just over Ā£500 a week, home every night. sometimes i get long days sometimes 7-9h days. i get paid 11h no matter how many hours i do, iāve got my own unit
you must be out of your mind wanting to leave a gig like that! 
If only u knew how hard it was to even find a job at all just now for drivers whoāre out of workā¦ let alone a number as kushty as that.
Must be true what they say, you never really value what youāve gotā¦ 'til itās gone
Iād stick with what youāve got personally. You say you want to drive big flashy motors, thats totally understandable, but stobarts dont have them. Iām not a stobart hater but the rules and regs ā ā ā ā me right off and companies like them abide by them to the letter hense why i have no interest in wearing elfs outfits or driving shopping trolleyās.
alamcculloch:
If its only you then by all means follow your dream.If you have a wife and CHILDREN to think about then the responsible thing to do is stay in your above average job.
Good chap; Thinking of the children.
berewic:
From an āeditedā TV show, Iād have thought that told you everything you need to know.
Pushed, stressed, tracked every minute of the day, nearly always late with only five minās to find a parking-up space for the night.
Why would you want to give up what you already have?
I am never pushed or stressed, very rarely even have a call from them, but then unlike some other drivers I donāt string the job out and take the ā ā ā ā , they can rely on me to get the job done, rubbs both ways, drivers are their own worst enemy sometimes and wonder why they get badgered all the time, depots and TMās / depot staff may vary of course, sticking to the above has seen me with zero problems elsewhere either tho.
Tbh sounds like your on a good number, canāt see why you would give that up
Phantom Mark:
berewic:
From an āeditedā TV show, Iād have thought that told you everything you need to know.
Pushed, stressed, tracked every minute of the day, nearly always late with only five minās to find a parking-up space for the night.
Why would you want to give up what you already have?
I am never pushed or stressed, very rarely even have a call from them, but then unlike some other drivers I donāt string the job out and take the ā ā ā ā , they can rely on me to get the job done, rubbs both ways, drivers are their own worst enemy sometimes and wonder why they get badgered all the time, depots and TMās / depot staff may vary of course, sticking to the above has seen me with zero problems elsewhere either tho.
Tbh sounds like your on a good number, canāt see why you would give that up
Stobbarts have their own edited TV show selling themselves as an efficient company. More than once have I seen one of their star drivers dumped in the mud with an extra job which has left him with literally minutes to do and find somewhere to park up at night.
The smiley guy that has his kids name on the truck twice had his instructions changed, told to do something else and had the TV cameras not been there, would the customer involved have cooperated.
I donāt think so.
Apart from that, I used to load tin cans out of Leicester, one of Stobbies depots, or at least they were running the show. Westerman, who I worked for and Stobbarts queueing up together. It didnāt matter what time anyone got there or what time anyoneās booking was, we all ended up waiting around for hours.
On many an occasion I would listen to Stobbies drivers whinging and whining about one thing or other, one common gripe being that Stobbies planners didnāt know what they were doing.
One driver having just had an almighty bollocking from one planner for doing what another planner had told him to.
Saaamon:
Iād stick with what youāve got personally. You say you want to drive big flashy motors, thats totally understandable, but stobarts dont have them. Iām not a stobart hater but the rules and regs [zb] me right off and companies like them abide by them to the letter hense why i have no interest in wearing elfs outfits or driving shopping trolleyās.
Most people say the wages are shocking in our industry, so why would you want to work for a firm that doesnāt comply with the rules and risk a vosa fixed penalty? I come to work to earn money, not ā ā ā ā it away
i just really want to try and see it for my self whats it like in there. ive seen the hourly rates not impressed have to say, but i still really want it. nice new trucks and everything (iām driving 54plate DAF CF 
) 