I have had enough of them trying to shaft me.Got a jobs thats mon-fri doing high value and its closer to the house and the money is alot better.Our driver rep over heard them saying they want 80% agency because its easier to get rid of them when it goes quite.Dont think a will be back with stobarts again.
Yep I know when I was there we had agency who were full time ( or so they thought ) , been there years and years , part of the furniture , then they turned up one day , told too
Take there units too another depot , brought
Back in car and never saw them again .
It’s difficult to advise a man who you don’t personally know on whether or not he should pursue a certain job path. Only you know what you require from a job Colin, so all I’ll say is good luck with whatever you choose.
That’s the world we now live in the uk I’m afraid the day of the zero hours contract where companies can employ twice the workers but only work half of them.on any given day.
End result massive drop in unemployment for the government stats and never ever having to pay redundancy.
It ■■■■■■■ stinks
Say hello to the future of this ■■■■ hole
Stobart must be absolutely desperate for drivers now. I was talking to a young lad the other day, he passed his test in June (told him he would regret that in a few months when the novelty has worn off) anyway, even he was streetwise enough to know never to work for Stobart!! 
Good luck with the move mate.
Things work the other way mind, couple of years ago i tipped several times beside a really pleasant young driver who’d be a Stobby apprentice, got his class 1 ticket through them, did his ‘‘payback’’ time, skilled himself up and then waltzed into a premium tanking job aged 22 as i recall lucky young sod and good on him for having the nous, job for life too as much as you can say that about any job these days.
Juddian:
Good luck with the move mate.Things work the other way mind, couple of years ago i tipped several times beside a really pleasant young driver who’d be a Stobby apprentice, got his class 1 ticket through them, did his ‘‘payback’’ time, skilled himself up and then waltzed into a premium tanking job, for life too as much as you can say that about any job these days.
Stobart may be not best company but ready long time to many driver in another companies work in more worse truck,for less money ,with more tight delivery slot.
Da, da, dum, dum, dum, another one bites the dust!
(Thought it was the best job ever Col…) 
Best of luck Colin. I’ve said for a while now that for profit transport has had it. And the plc’s specialising in “logistics” are the ones who’ve killed it. I’d love to still be working for a small firm, where the boss helps you wash your truck before taking you to the pub on a Friday night, but they tend to pay poor, run old equipment with a dashboard like Blackpool illuminations, and have a cash flow leaving you wondering if you’ll be able to pay your bills this week. I’ve settled on a mid sized firm, with above average pay, good equipment and decent conditions. The only thing that will get me away would be an in house blue chip. Where the terms, conditions and pay make up for the soulless atmosphere these places promote.
eagerbeaver:
Da, da, dum, dum, dum, another one bites the dust!(Thought it was the best job ever Col…)
It was untill they gave the work away to another company and now i get all the crap of the day.Job im goin to applied friday had interview and got the job all within 3 hours of sending the application form in.
OVLOV JAY:
Best of luck Colin. I’ve said for a while now that for profit transport has had it. And the plc’s specialising in “logistics” are the ones who’ve killed it. I’d love to still be working for a small firm, where the boss helps you wash your truck before taking you to the pub on a Friday night, but they tend to pay poor, run old equipment with a dashboard like Blackpool illuminations, and have a cash flow leaving you wondering if you’ll be able to pay your bills this week. I’ve settled on a mid sized firm, with above average pay, good equipment and decent conditions. The only thing that will get me away would be an in house blue chip. Where the terms, conditions and pay make up for the soulless atmosphere these places promote.
Im going to a small firm jay they have 11 units and 15 trailers and all there own work.The money is good and they have gave me the uniform already.All thats left to do is there way of load security and thats when i start.The plus side is im gettin a volvo fh with xl cab fitted with microwave and fridge freezer and coffee maker was told need to look after our drivers there our backbone.The only reason they were looking was there senior driver has retired.
Juddian:
Good luck with the move mate.Things work the other way mind, couple of years ago i tipped several times beside a really pleasant young driver who’d be a Stobby apprentice, got his class 1 ticket through them, did his ‘‘payback’’ time, skilled himself up and then waltzed into a premium tanking job aged 22 as i recall lucky young sod and good on him for having the nous, job for life too as much as you can say that about any job these days.
Cheers pal the job am going to is good small family firm.
I’ve said this many a time, when I worked for Stobarts, an employee couldn’t get a Monday to Friday shift, but an agency man could. New employees had to either work weekends or nights, yet The Logistics People could get whatever shift they wanted! They have a handful of the best shifts and start times that they have to save for the agency men, to keep them happy. There were also rumours that the planners were informally told to give the agency men the newest trucks and cushiest runs, but that could never have been proven. A few times I’d be in the queue to get my work, after which I’d get a smashed-up old manual truck and four drops in Manchester city centre, when the shifty-looking foreign agency man behind me would get a brand-new 16-plate and a long, cushy run that he’d managed to drag-out for 13 hours, on a couple of quid an hour more than us Stobart lot were. Whenever a driver complained, the planners would just claim that the agency men might not know the job, so they give them the best runs to keep them out of trouble, leaving the difficult runs for the employees.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted 80% agency men, to get around the sick pay, holiday pay, and make it easy to cut down their workforce when times are quiet. Green shirts seem quite rare nowadays, I see a lot of their trucks manned by foreign-looking folk wearing t-shirts, and it looks like that’s they way Stobarts want it. At least you won’t have to do your extra shift per month! 
Rottweiler22:
I’ve said this many a time, when I worked for Stobarts, an employee couldn’t get a Monday to Friday shift, but an agency man could. New employees had to either work weekends or nights, yet The Logistics People could get whatever shift they wanted! They have a handful of the best shifts and start times that they have to save for the agency men, to keep them happy. There were also rumours that the planners were informally told to give the agency men the newest trucks and cushiest runs, but that could never have been proven. A few times I’d be in the queue to get my work, after which I’d get a smashed-up old manual truck and four drops in Manchester city centre, when the shifty-looking foreign agency man behind me would get a brand-new 16-plate and a long, cushy run that he’d managed to drag-out for 13 hours, on a couple of quid an hour more than us Stobart lot were. Whenever a driver complained, the planners would just claim that the agency men might not know the job, so they give them the best runs to keep them out of trouble, leaving the difficult runs for the employees.It wouldn’t surprise me if they wanted 80% agency men, to get around the sick pay, holiday pay, and make it easy to cut down their workforce when times are quiet. Green shirts seem quite rare nowadays, I see a lot of their trucks manned by foreign-looking folk wearing t-shirts, and it looks like that’s they way Stobarts want it. At least you won’t have to do your extra shift per month!
They’re not the only ones who behave like this towards their full timers, I would eventually like to work days but I know its unlikely as the agency like these times, all the new starters at my place have the worst start band and earn less than agency the only reason big companies employ full timers in many cases is to commit people to the work the agency men won’t do.
The Stobart model works on economy of scale their profit margin is small and they cannot pay the wages drivers can now command the EE drivers are keeping them going a couple of years down the line and when finally we get some sort of control of our borders, they could be in big trouble.
Its true certain runs are kept for the agency.The depot i work from does the co.op trunks to carnforth and its always agency guys doing them.But if thats what they want then there welcome to it because im leaving.
Mickey mouse:
Stobart must be absolutely desperate for drivers now. I was talking to a young lad the other day, he passed his test in June (told him he would regret that in a few months when the novelty has worn off) anyway, even he was streetwise enough to know never to work for Stobart!!
Before I’d even passed my car test in 2014 I was advised to never work for them lol and I’ve had my class 1 licence 2 weeks and got told by like 4 people that stobarts take on new drivers I advised them I’d rather ■■■■ in my hand and clap then go to that dive.
Yeah the Agency guys get the easy one drop stuff at our place too. No idea what there on etc, but its obviously an unstable job, unless your just looking for ad-hoc shifts or are semi-retired etc.
Always going to be a huge need for agency drivers for all the reasons in the previous posts unfortunately.
Stobarts and ■■■■ agencies, two of the many ingredients that have totally ■■■■ ed this job up over the years to the complete cluster ■■■■ that it is today.
Crap money, zero contracts, job run by ■■■■ retards aka ‘traffic planners’ (that do not know a Volvo from a ■■■■■) all the management buzz word bull ■■■■ like ‘logistical operations’ and ‘de.briefing’ 
, timed deliveries, being tracked and pushed to the limits with no leeway, drivers that are grown men being treated like naughty schoolkids, and worse them taking it )
Come back 80s transport all is forgiven, ok certainly not perfect with many running bent, but at least you knew where you were in the job.
Leaving stobarts 
I thought a driver had made it to the top of his profession when driving for them
robroy:
Stobarts and [zb] agencies, two of the many ingredients that have totally [zb] ed this job up over the years to the complete cluster [zb] that it is today.
Crap money, zero contracts, job run by [zb] retards aka ‘traffic planners’ (that do not know a Volvo from a ■■■■■) all the management buzz word bull [zb] like ‘logistical operations’ and ‘de.briefing’
Thats not just transport, welcome to the modern world.