Look lads ,in all transport operations ,no matter what size,there is a certain % of crap jobs/traffic that has to be done in order to keep the good traffic.it would appear that “fast eddie” has finally “tumbled” to this fact !! So what he will be attempting to achieve is create two fleets,one “company owned” and a secondary one made up of “franchisees”.So guess which fleet will be operated on the better rated traffic( if this is possible in the “fast eddie” group),minimal empty running ect ect,and which fleet will get all the crappy jobs,m/t running,waiting time ect. ect.So at a stroke “fast eddie” has improved the performance of the “company” fleet AND has managed to dump all the crap onto the “franchisee” O/D fleet AND,wait for it,make money by way of a slice of the crappy job which formerly had lost them(ESL) money.That is until the “franchisees” start “folding” and the proverbial hits the fan !! Someone on an earlier thread suggested it would be similar to a Tipper “franchise”,but a tipper invariably runs from point A to point B and back to point A empty,easy peasy!!! But “fast eddie” is a UK wide multi customer operator so it would be nothing like a tipper operation.There is obviously a lot more to this “offer” than immediately crosses the mind and no doubt the “fine print” of the aggreement will be “onerous” to say the least and will probably need a Joderel Bank telescope to read it and a Philledelphia lawyer to understand the lingo,but hey! we live in the modern world with all the attendant technology,so the day’s of a “binding handshake” are long gone and I wouldn’t like to chance my fingers with the “chuckle brothers” !!This is just my take on the matter and no doubt someone will have an equal ,and opposite,opinion to mine Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Look lads ,in all transport operations ,no matter what size,there is a certain % of crap jobs/traffic that has to be done in order to keep the good traffic.it would appear that “fast eddie” has finally “tumbled” to this fact !! So what he will be attempting to achieve is create two fleets,one “company owned” and a secondary one made up of “franchisees”.So guess which fleet will be operated on the better rated traffic( if this is possible in the “fast eddie” group),minimal empty running ect ect,and which fleet will get all the crappy jobs,m/t running,waiting time ect. ect.So at a stroke “fast eddie” has improved the performance of the “company” fleet AND has managed to dump all the crap onto the “franchisee” O/D fleet AND,wait for it,make money by way of a slice of the crappy job which formerly had lost them(ESL) money.That is until the “franchisees” start “folding” and the proverbial hits the fan !! Someone on an earlier thread suggested it would be similar to a Tipper “franchise”,but a tipper invariably runs from point A to point B and back to point A empty,easy peasy!!! But “fast eddie” is a UK wide multi customer operator so it would be nothing like a tipper operation.There is obviously a lot more to this “offer” than immediately crosses the mind and no doubt the “fine print” of the aggreement will be “onerous” to say the least and will probably need a Joderel Bank telescope to read it and a Philledelphia lawyer to understand the lingo,but hey! we live in the modern world with all the attendant technology,so the day’s of a “binding handshake” are long gone and I wouldn’t like to chance my fingers with the “chuckle brothers” !!This is just my take on the matter and no doubt someone will have an equal ,and opposite,opinion to mine Cheers Bewick.
Probably ady12000
Well, basically there are two possibilities.
1). The trucks are very profitable but Eddie Stobart Ltd do not feel that it is morally correct to make so much profit in these times of austerity and therefore benevolently wish to share their little gold mine with others, in order to bring a cheery smile to their children’s faces, or
2). Something else.
cieranc:
So what they’re actually looking for is… Drivers.Drivers that will pay for the maintenance on the trucks, fuel and tyres and another driver when you’re off.
Where do I apply?
Exactly. Anyone considering this should ask ES the following:
Why, if there is profit in it as you are leading people to believe, are you not running this for yourself??
They are basically asking for drivers that are prepared to take all the risks and pay out all the expenses so they don’t have to…
Hmmmmmm…Where don’t i sign■■?
you will own your o licence,cpc &you buy the uniform…
i know a guy that went from driver to being a o/d in the 90s wi stobart, he is still on the go and seemed to make it pay.
spent most o his time on the euro fleet.
and if i remember correctly any spare drivers used must wear the uniform,sure stobarts wanted to check that any spare driver was on your insurance as well.
and if you could not find a driver for your truck stobart used to supply one at full market rate.
.imo this is how it used to be.
jimmy
Hay1908:
I’ve not put any great deal of thought into this, just a daydreaming kind of thought. But would this offer be a great way ahead for a partnership between 2 drivers, i.e put in 6k each and then run the wagon 24/7ish (loads/work dependent). Obviously only 1 name being on the contract, but generally a father/son, husband/wife or 2 close mates or any other type of combo could make ESL offer not too bad a deal and possibly a decent earner.Thoughts?
Sounds like what happened to the taxi companies round here… our asian friends setup and so…
Farther gets out of car, son gets in - son gets out - brother gets in - other brother get in - then so on…
Maybe this is how it could maybe ‘pay’ for someone. That francisee has the truck running 24/7, not stobbies.
So really then, stobbies just needs to sit back and watch the £££ roll in.
After reading the ad on the website I see that it asks for a cashflow of twelve grand not a down payment.
That says to me that ESL expect you to be credit worthy for ninety days or however long 12k will run a lorry until the first invoice is paid, don’t forget the ad mentions that the terms are ‘negotionable’ ie deductions off invoice for early payment to those who can’t stretch to 12k (a popular haulage practice).
That looks to me that you could apply to be a Francisee armed with nothing more that a real CPC and a winning smile and still be a sucessful applicant.
It must stick in the craw of the ordinary drivers who just quietly pulled their weight while their so called pals milked the POA until they all got laid off. Especially as they watch Topgun and his cronies laying down the law on the TV.
Like I said before, I used to grudgingly admire ESL from afar, can’t say I do now…
W
Goldfinger:
Hay1908:
I’ve not put any great deal of thought into this, just a daydreaming kind of thought. But would this offer be a great way ahead for a partnership between 2 drivers, i.e put in 6k each and then run the wagon 24/7ish (loads/work dependent). Obviously only 1 name being on the contract, but generally a father/son, husband/wife or 2 close mates or any other type of combo could make ESL offer not too bad a deal and possibly a decent earner.Thoughts?
Sounds like what happened to the taxi companies round here… our asian friends setup and so…
Farther gets out of car, son gets in - son gets out - brother gets in - other brother get in - then so on…
Maybe this is how it could maybe ‘pay’ for someone. That francisee has the truck running 24/7, not stobbies.
Might work with a cab (if there’s that much work for a 24/7 operation) but not tramping with a truck.
JIMBO47:
you will own your o licence,cpc &you buy the uniform.
O rite, so out of the truck payments, maintenance, tyres, fuel, all you actually own is the O license,
which presumeably you pay for (or need to prove financial security), the CPC wich will benefit you financially by…■■? and a uniform.
But you can’t use the truck for any work other than Stobart work?
Seems to me this is just a drivers job, but the driver pays all the overheads and reduces Stobarts liabilities via your own O license.
Or could it be that you having your own O license is the only way of negating the self employed/employed situation I highlighted above?
AlexWignall:
That looks to me that you could apply to be a Francisee armed with nothing more that a real CPC and a winning smile and still be a sucessful applicant.
Not true because VOSA insist on you having a level of finance in place before they will grant an O-licence. I think its about £7,700 at the moment.
looks like the agency drivers will benefit when the truck needs to be rollin and the franchisee hasnt got a mate to drive it , special discount available to all of eddys owner drivers if you sign up with an agency now.
Harry Monk:
Well, basically there are two possibilities.1). The trucks are very profitable but Eddie Stobart Ltd do not feel that it is morally correct to make so much profit in these times of austerity and therefore benevolently wish to share their little gold mine with others, in order to bring a cheery smile to their children’s faces, or
2). Something else.
After much deliberation (about 5 seconds) I’d like to pick option 2.
Hay1908:
My bits are in red belowhammer:
What do you do in week two then? Based on your example above, the franchisee can only drive 34hours and his mate 34.5 hours in the 2nd week.Do whatever they want, play golf if its what they are into or book themselves in for an appointment to get their backs, sacks and cracks seen to.
The franchisee and his mate can go and play golf but neither can do much driving in week 2 in your original example. My point is, if that happens - who drives the truck in week 2? Stobbie’s insist the vehicle is ‘available’ so you’ll need more drivers.
What I’m getting at is that I have not sat down and worked out the absolute business plan (Like I said in a post as its just a bit of food for thought) and besides regardless of what hours of driving and work etc that anyone comes up with will have to remain within the LAW and even ES cant get 'You will be expected to break the law and have no time off/holidays/breaks etc whatsoever" written into the contract.
There is no ‘business plan’ is there? You take what Stobart give you workwise. You are totally beholden to you’re planner. As for sticking within the law…and this is the good bit - its your O-licence. You’ll have to face the consequences if your over your hours, not Stobarts as they will say “we told him not to go over his hours”. What will be written into the ‘contract’ is that you will be expected to supply a vehicle for their operation and run it legally. How you do it is your lookout. Legally, Stobbies will have wiped their hands of you before you even start!
But thanks for your observation and I take it that you are of the opinion that 'Its and absolute rip off, and in no way or shape can anyone possibly be able to make a living out of it not even if there situation may no be the same as yours, or even if their idea of a decent income is different from yours or if their idea of a decent lifestyle is different from yours. Maybe we are all just ‘Nuggets!!’ as you said in an earlier post.
At no point did I describe anyone as a nugget. I’m an owner-driver and i don’t make much money. I compete with franchise hauliers every day, difference with me is Tarmac have franchisees who are 1st in line for whatever work there is and everyone knows that and where they stand. However, difference between Tarmac and ESL is that Tarmac don’t have their own trucks. Do you honestly think you will get the decent work? What people do is their own business. Each to their own and what suits them.
P.S. Can anyone tell me what Stobarts plan on doing with waiting time? Do you get paid after 1 hour? 2? At all? 
I think people talking about driving 55 hours per week might have the opposite problem - parked at RDC’s for 8 hours per day and not earning any waiting time.
I wonder whether the mug, sorry owner driver will have to pay for the uniform?.
cieranc:
Where I used to work the lads and the gaffer got in bother for being self employed and working for the same company all the while. The lads were self-employed to save tax, nat insurance etc, but only worked for the one company.Apparently, if you’re self-employed and work for the same person all the time, then you’re commiting fraud/tax evasion, as you should be employed by that company. The drivers got done and had to pay the back-tax and the gaffer got done.
So where’s the difference here?
Their truck, their trailer, their work, their fuel (which you pay for) and you can’t do loads for anyone else so you work exclusively for them.
I nearly wrote the same thing at about the same time as you but stopped as you will obviously have different customers ie Tesco Heineken and who ever else, Stobarts wouldnt be a customer, just like mcdonalds arnt the customer if you run a franchise for them. Other than that the poinys you make do apply elsewhere
hammer:
AlexWignall:
That looks to me that you could apply to be a Francisee armed with nothing more that a real CPC and a winning smile and still be a sucessful applicant.Not true because VOSA insist on you having a level of finance in place before they will grant an O-licence. I think its about £7,700 at the moment.
Who says the Franchisees are going to have their own O licence? It’s not in the ad.
The ad says the 12k cashflow is to meet all costs so that might include paying something to ESL for them to act as garentor.
I think you are confusing an ESL Franchise with one real customer, with a proper independent haulier who is free to find their own customers and control their own costs.
This franchise scheme is nothing more than a method of unloading all the extra costs of being a tramper onto the poor sod in the driving seat. To the detriment of ordinary ESL employees who have been made redundant. Which was the whole point of my earlier post.
W
AlexWignall:
hammer:
AlexWignall:
That looks to me that you could apply to be a Francisee armed with nothing more that a real CPC and a winning smile and still be a sucessful applicant.Not true because VOSA insist on you having a level of finance in place before they will grant an O-licence. I think its about £7,700 at the moment.
Who says the Franchisees are going to have their own O licence? It’s not in the ad.
In which case there would be no need for them to either have or get in March a CPC, and that is in the ad.
I think you’re all mad for not being interested in this deal I for one will be applying, I’ve checked my savings and have 37p and with some careful budgeting can save up to 12p a week, so as soon as i have £12k I’m on the phone 
Didn’t Langdons at Taunton do this kind of thing years ago ? I remember seeing Langdon trucks but with different names plastered on them and a small sticker on the doors saying owner/driver so what happened there anybody know ?