Stobarts are looking for a kitchen assistant at Warrington.
I thought stobarts didn’t exist thses days? Either way they want a kitchen assistant.
Still exists as such just as part of Culina along with all the other companies they hoovered up.
One Crap company hoovered up by another Crap company lol
^^^^^
Are there ANY good companies left today?
The ones who look after you,.value you,.and treat you like grown ups? …not counting the ones who are maybe good to work for with half a dozen or so trucks.
I would say nearly ALL big firms are crap, too many chiefs with too few Indians…(or native Americans for the pc.
) ran by power crazy guys with non jobs, ‘compliance managers’ and the like.
Firms with pi55 poor policies like cameras, and drivers being insurance agents who have to pay for damages etc.
I have been lucky enough to work for 2 good companies since I was an employed driver, the comparison is tremendous compared with who I work for today…but hey,.I like the actual job I do, so still give 100% despite all the underlying crap.
Got to add, …not saying Stobbies are a good firm, but a mate who is a long term employee is settled there… but like myself maybe because he ‘has the job sussed’.
He’s left a couple of times (including trying my firm where he stuck it for a fortnight.
) but always went back there…so cant be ALL bad, although not for me.
I worked at Hargreaves Fuel for 25 years, no ‘turnover’ in staff , all settled, regular men. WE built the company up from scratch, we had good management, good pay, good tackle, etc. we were settled. And then the ‘suits’ came in and reckoned they could do a better job 
They wanted to move everything from West Yorkshire to Immingham
Well they couldn’t and eventually our terminal was closed and was demolished, we all took redundancy and that was that.
That was in 1984…and i’m still bitter about the way we were treated.
I don’t know where ‘the suits’ are now, but I hope they are in h ell
Nah they will be retired on a much better pension than you mate.
Incompetence and ineptitude in management is well rewarded in haulage nowadays, in fact it’s the name of the game.
I recall, many years ago, a tanker depot engineer at a very well known Rothwell (Leeds) based company, he didn’t know one end of a road tanker from the other. He knew the theory but not the practical side of the job. I doubt he could change a wheel at the side of the road.
S&R. 
That’s the biggest problem these days, Grumpy. Management is now recruited from tertiary institutions, with an Associate Diploma in this, that or the other, all theory written and copied by people with no practical experience or direct knowledge.
Operational management should be sourced from experienced drivers.
More to “office work” than many drivers realise.
Some excellent traffic managers I knew didn’t have truck driving experience, some did.
Some drivers do make good managers, and some don’t.
Knowing how trucks work is an advantage, and having worked with truck drivers should give some insight into man management, but not everyone “gets it”!
Traffic (when done correctly) is a bit like chess in multiple dimensions.
You obviously have the 2 dimensions of space upon a plane. Roads and geography.
You need the 3 dimensions of space (cube) plus the added dimension of weight to be able to group loads on a truck, and remember the geography bit so that the load, fits, isn’t too heavy, and comes off in the correct order. Oh, and don’t forget the booked delivery times! 5variables?
Not enough to consider yet?
Then how about Fred’s dentist appointment? Or that Jo worked last Saturday and is short of driving hours this week? Pete’s wife is due a baby so he can’t go too far.
A rigid has died on it’s wheels Monday morning, but the driver doesn’t have a bendy licence.
And drivers will ask “Why did X get that backload, and I got a different one?” or comment about empty trucks passing on the m-way. Yes, sometimes a mistake, but often a good reason for it.
Honestly, it takes too long to explain it all!
And in your “spare time” give rates for customers who want 4 pallets delivered 250miles away next week. And you have to give the 20 question interrogation to discover the “pallets” are 3metres long, won’t be ready until Weds afternoon, and can’t be stacked. A vastly different rate for 4 VMF pallets 2tons total, ready now, and delivery anytime the following week.
Very alike banging your head against a brick wall:
Come Friday night or Sat lunchtime, when it is all over, it feels Great!
The biggest number of trucks I have ran and planned for at the same time, was 6, …my own.
No trackers or use of computers in those days either, so I cant make my mind up if that fact would make it harder or easier…maybe easier the way I tend to be with tech.
All the things Frangers lists are/were valid, but I had 6 good lads who worked for me, who were not much of a problem, a lot of it had to do with the way I treated them…as I said like grown ups,.so they reciprocated with co.operation.
Maybe some of these modern firms should take that on board.
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to be fair its not a job i would want to do for various reasons. I detest general haulage. But the work i have done and quite like should be just as simple to plan.
for example you have 2 drops in maidstone 1 in ashford 2 in hastings 1 in folkstone and one in tonbridge starting in medway. every time it would be routed maidstone ashford maidstone tonbrdidge folkstone hastings.
every time whoever got it would have to re route everything and get it changed on the computer with the same comment of oh i dunno who routed that. there were no time constraints and doing it sensibly ie tonbridge hastings folkstone ashford maidstone maidstone saved three hours and over 100 miles
Depends on what you want.
Hardly a dull day in many years doing general haulage.
Lots headaches, but a fuzzy warm glow when you overcame them.
Very few Good Companies left from what i can see, We may qualify we only operate six lol.
There never was a shortage of drivers, But there is a shortage of Good Companies, Most are managed by incompetent people that have never done the job. But can sit in the office and spout ■■■■■■■■
why would anyone want to work for them clowns ffs,
The drivers most probably know more about the job , than the management, that’s why there they say a driver shortage, real reason knowone with any go in them will work for them.
As for Stobarts i think Eddie would have sorted it if the finances had not run out, but as you know they have been taken over by another Race to the Bottom setup, We can do it Cheap Culina.
Sad to say all these comments apply to the trucking industry over here. All the big companies want is ‘meat in the seat’. They don’t want you to think so want you to do as little as possible so they can pay you as little as possible. As for drivers going into management I knew a driver who was friendly and happy as a driver but became a manager and turned into a right old sod, well middle aged sod and he hated it.
On the other hand my manager boss at the trucking company i worked at before was a former driver and he enjoyed it. On one hand he knew what you were talking about with regards to the truck trailer but on the other hand when I tried to BS him he knew that too.