Yeah you can blame stobarts for destroying the haulage industry, you can even blame him for destroying the ozone layer but in my opinion if there where more companies out there prepared to pay a decent wage stobarts wouldn’t have so many applications for work. I say this through experience, Ive worked for 4 haulage companies before I started at stobarts. As far as I’m concerned stobarts is the best one ive worked for, yeah the hourly rate isn’t amazing, but I’m never put under pressure, if the job can’t be done then it can’t be done no questions. Never asked “can you just” even though they know I’m running out of time, never been lent on. Also you can rely on the equipment being in good working condition. Unlike a certain Irish company with red trucks. I’m not saying that stobarts is the be all and end all but here in the NW there ain’t much to choose. Paying bills and looking after my family comes first and if working for stobarts is the best way to do this then so be it…cheers
Kneal:
Yeah you can blame stobarts for destroying the haulage industry, you can even blame him for destroying the ozone layer but in my opinion if there where more companies out there prepared to pay a decent wage stobarts wouldn’t have so many applications for work. I say this through experience, Ive worked for 4 haulage companies before I started at stobarts. As far as I’m concerned stobarts is the best one ive worked for, yeah the hourly rate isn’t amazing, but I’m never put under pressure, if the job can’t be done then it can’t be done no questions. Never asked “can you just” even though they know I’m running out of time, never been lent on. Also you can rely on the equipment being in good working condition. Unlike a certain Irish company with red trucks. I’m not saying that stobarts is the be all and end all but here in the NW there ain’t much to choose. Paying bills and looking after my family comes first and if working for stobarts is the best way to do this then so be it…cheers
Family always comes first. I agree.
There is however much resentment at Stobarts tactics. Resentment that has been going on for years. Trouble is almost everyone seems to have laid down and took it. Truck drivers have in the past rebelled against fuel prices but have not gone so far as taking a stance against the big players.
I suppose that union recognition is out the window at fast Eddies 
Okie dokey there you go again,when have you believed what the press has said??
How do you know that ESL has undercut people,please back these up with fact’s not the Press.
The fact is ESL does not send driver’s with their arse’s hanging out their trouser’s,the tackle is 99% spot on and it project’s an image which the Global player’s of this world like to see.
I totally agree with Kneal,i’ve never been asked to drive naughty,i’m paid well for what i do,if their’s a problem with the vehicle into the garage it goes,no messing.
You say the wages are crap,sorry i don’t think they are,I work Sun-Thurs,4 night’s out every week and i bring home around £530,which i don’t think is too bad at all for what is still a general haulage job(i don’t just do Tesco work).
Their’s not many firm’s paying that well in the Birmingham area for general haulage work.
You also say more unworkable legislation is being brought in to copy the Stobart work model,what a load of balls!!!
So you are blaming ESL for all the problem’s in the UK transport industry?,what a ludicrus and iditic thing to say,legislation is being brought in by the EEC and if you think the UK as a whole has any say in what the EEC does,your even more deluded than i thought,never mind Stobart’s.
Do you think Stobarts wanted the working time directive in for a start?,i don’t think so,straight away they needed more driver’s,so hence more cost.
After working for Eddie Stobart for awhile i learn’t two thing’s,
- People who know the most about Stobarts have never worked for them,some of the comment’s on this thread prove it.
2.if you haven’t heard a rumour about Stobarts by 10am,you start one as it’l spread like wildfire. e.g. when the train first started running,one of our drivers told another driver from another company that he was being"trained" upto drive it and when he got to Grangemouth he’d pull the curtains around in the cab of the loco and then a bed dropped down in the cab and he’could take his 9 hrs off and do the reverse the next day.
Two days later i was unloading at a Tesco’s and a driver came upto me asked if it was true that he’d heard from a mate of his that we was all being trained upto drive the train.
How gulliable some people are!
jase wrote
2.if you haven’t heard a rumour about Stobarts by 10am,you start one as it’l spread like wildfire. e.g. when the train first started running,one of our drivers told another driver from another company that he was being"trained" upto drive it and when he got to Grangemouth he’d pull the curtains around in the cab of the loco and then a bed dropped down in the cab and he’could take his 9 hrs off and do the reverse the next day.
Two days later i was unloading at a Tesco’s and a driver came upto me asked if it was true that he’d heard from a mate of his that we was all being trained upto drive the train.
How gulliable some people are!
Blimey so that’s not true then
jase:
Okie dokey there you go again,when have you believed what the press has said??
How do you know that ESL has undercut people,please back these up with fact’s not the Press.
The fact is ESL does not send driver’s with their arse’s hanging out their trouser’s,the tackle is 99% spot on and it project’s an image which the Global player’s of this world like to see.
I totally agree with Kneal,i’ve never been asked to drive naughty,i’m paid well for what i do,if their’s a problem with the vehicle into the garage it goes,no messing.
You say the wages are crap,sorry i don’t think they are,I work Sun-Thurs,4 night’s out every week and i bring home around £530,which i don’t think is too bad at all for what is still a general haulage job(i don’t just do Tesco work).
Their’s not many firm’s paying that well in the Birmingham area for general haulage work.You also say more unworkable legislation is being brought in to copy the Stobart work model,what a load of balls!!!
So you are blaming ESL for all the problem’s in the UK transport industry?,what a ludicrus and iditic thing to say,legislation is being brought in by the EEC and if you think the UK as a whole has any say in what the EEC does,your even more deluded than i thought,never mind Stobart’s.Do you think Stobarts wanted the working time directive in for a start?,i don’t think so,straight away they needed more driver’s,so hence more cost.
After working for Eddie Stobart for awhile i learn’t two thing’s,
- People who know the most about Stobarts have never worked for them,some of the comment’s on this thread prove it.
2.if you haven’t heard a rumour about Stobarts by 10am,you start one as it’l spread like wildfire. e.g. when the train first started running,one of our drivers told another driver from another company that he was being"trained" upto drive it and when he got to Grangemouth he’d pull the curtains around in the cab of the loco and then a bed dropped down in the cab and he’could take his 9 hrs off and do the reverse the next day.
Two days later i was unloading at a Tesco’s and a driver came upto me asked if it was true that he’d heard from a mate of his that we was all being trained upto drive the train.
How gulliable some people are!
what has some idiot driver thinking he can drive a train been the same as articles about stobbarts taking over a firm, are you eddies love child or nsomething.
did you actually read what i wrote or just pick up on certain words.
How many companies have stobbarts taken over in recent months?
How many sheets of paper did you have to sign when you got your bright shiney uniform and your new volvo saying if you got a speck pof dust on it you will be hung drawn and quartered.
The facts are all around you Stobbarts are taking over the transport industry, which means they will have a monopolly and wil be able to dictate rates wages etc.
Yeah I know I’m only a thick driver and you think I believe everything I hear.
But I’ve been doing this job a long time and I’ve picked up a little knowledge on the way.
By the way Kneal, if your who I think you are, you only have your self to blame with PJ, all you had to do was tell him you weren’t driving that shed anymore and he would have changed it like he did with me after my first trip. Or turn round and say I want some time at home and took it. Nobody can make you run bent only yourself.
sorry mate, you’ve got the wrong kneal…
The thing that annoys me the most is why the driver gets all the stick for working for stobarts…all were doing is earning a crust like everyone else. Yes there are some complete tossers who drive for stobarts but there are also a hell of alot of tossers working in other companies. As far as the uniform goes, I bloody hate it, I would pay to get rid and when I park up for the night i get changed straight away. Don’t understand the lads who go down the boozer after work wearing it, it’s bloody aweful. 
Few fact’s for you.
1.no i’m not Eddie’s lovechild,what a childish comment to make.
2.I signed two sheet’s when i started,1 for the uniform in the sense of i left within 6 months i’d have to pay a percentage back to them,decreasing over time,and 2 my contract.
3.i drive a Scania,not a Volvo!
Frankly,i don’t give a toss what you think about ESL as like you said in your first comment you only know people who’ve worked here and mostly had a bad experience.
As long as my money goes in the bank every fortnight and i get left alone to do the job,then i’m happy,and you’d be surprised at the amount of pm’s i get from people on here who ask what its like at ESL and apply to work there and start as well.
Not bad for a company who you consider to be the root of all evil in the UK transport industry.
told today by one of there trampers that there looking at buying another large fridge company , no idea if its true or not but i must admit it does seem a bit o.t.t ,
i would of thought you would intergrate all the new buisnesses into the stobart group before you buy more.
if there was a depot a little closer to me i would drive for them, from what i have been told they look after their drivers, yeah so they are taking over the haulage industry but thats business you either sink or swim, the companies that sold up must have seen the need to sell up otherwise they wouldnt have sold to stobbies.
Heard rumours of JRT being taken over by stobbies not sure if its true or not but to behonest i take it with a pinch of salt.
and as for stobbies soon being able to dictate wages and rates and so on, maybe that would be a good thing, because it will start to force out the companies with a questionable way of running, drivers will need to prove themselves a little better to get the jobs so there will be less bad and in some cases dangerous drivers on the road as companies would have to raise their standards, and in turn wages would go up as companies fight to entice the best of the best to their company. And most important the industry would start to get a better reputation with the general public so they wont see us as a pain in the arse driving at 40 holding them up.
Simple economics too many drivers for the each job hence ■■■■ wages all round.
With my agency im £2 an hour worse off at the weekend than 3 years ago. Thru the weekend im thesame as 3 years ago.
10 years ago i read a truck mag saying ‘in a few years we will need 100’s of thousands of new drivers’.
Agencys are killings this game but i will stay with them rather than have some 2 bit company ‘own’ me.
Okey-Didley-Dokely:
are you eddies love child or nsomething.
You sound like your the runt of the litter in an unwanted ■■■■■■■ lovechild from Mr Stobart whilst also suffering from gingerism, such is your hatred to the company.
I dont work for Stobart, buy I would rather work for them than Macfarlane’s
Drove for a sub-contractor who pulled for Stobarts in their colours.
Their own drivers dont do owt naughty but the subbies are expected to.
probably not the best place to say but saw the aftermath of a stoacc in northampton servces lastnight
stobart driver had tried to turn round in the truck park not noticing the ECM driver with a Honda 4X4 hanging over the cab, at least the 4x4 will be well aired by the time the new owner gets it.
One incident with one vehicle not bad going for a company with 1800 trucks i’d say and yes i’m a night tramper with Stobarts and agree with jase that there are worse companies to work for than Stobarts
dessy:
One incident with one vehicle not bad going for a company with 1800 trucks i’d say and yes i’m a night tramper with Stobarts and agree with jase that there are worse companies to work for than Stobarts
here we have two of stobarts very many yes men !!! sad
Oh here we go again,we have another intelligent comment from a so called professional driver.
Dodger,please read your comment and then think who is sad,us for working for Stobart’s or you for making such an immature and childish statement which adds absolutely nothing to this thread.
Oh and i’m not a yes man as my planner would no doubt tell you!
dodger1974:
dessy:
One incident with one vehicle not bad going for a company with 1800 trucks i’d say and yes i’m a night tramper with Stobarts and agree with jase that there are worse companies to work for than Stobartshere we have two of stobarts very many yes men !!! sad
great post do you have anything else to say. 
why dont you try something interesting this time.
Well JD,i’m not holding out any hope on that one,i mean 22 posts in 21 month’s i think it maybe gonna take quite a while!
jase:
Well JD,i’m not holding out any hope on that one,i mean 22 posts in 21 month’s i think it maybe gonna take quite a while!
bloody hell there was me holding my breath as well. 
dodger1974:
dessy:
One incident with one vehicle not bad going for a company with 1800 trucks i’d say and yes i’m a night tramper with Stobarts and agree with jase that there are worse companies to work for than Stobartshere we have two of stobarts very many yes men !!! sad
I’ve been accused of may things but a yes man