Esken

Eddie Stobart Ltd. is the largest privately-owned (non-plc) haulage company in the United Kingdom, with a turnover of around £150M per annum. One of its key success factors is its specific emphasis on building a strong reputation and corporate image. For example, in the 1980s and 90s if any driver was caught not wearing a tie while on duty, he or she ccould face disciplinary action. Similarly, the company has a policy that all drivers must wave back, and honk their horn in the traditional truck-driver fashion when signalled by a passer-by or "Eddie spotter" to do so. The company is named after the entrepreneur Edward Stobart Snr, who founded the successful haulage firm.

Edward Stobart Jnr was born in Cumberland in England in November 1954, and grew up on his parents' farm near Carlisle. He was very interested in lorries, and when he left school, he started working for his father's haulage business delivering agricultural material in the region. By 1970, the company consisted of three main parts:

• Fertilizer
• Haulage
• Farm shop

The various parts were split up between the family members, with Edward having haulage and the name, Eddie Stobart Ltd.

In 1976 Edward and the fleet of eight lorries moved to Carlisle itself to be nearer the M6 motorway. A lot of hard work, never declining an order, and a paranoia about keeping his lorries immaculately clean, eventually paid off and he started to get orders from larger businesses.

The company grew, slowly at first but by the year 2000, it had 1,000 lorries and owned 24 storage depots around the United Kingdom. Since each lorry has a life (before disposal) of three years, this means that the company was roughly purchasing a new lorry every single day.

One of Eddie's quaint habits was to name his lorry cabins with female names. The first being "Twiggy", then "Tammy" (Wynette), "Dolly" (Parton), and "Suzi" (Quatro).

Because his lorries have a very distinctive livery and because the cabs are named, many members of the general public started to "collect" sightings of Stobart lorries to the extent that a fan club formed itself, eventually supported by the company who arrange depot tours and lorry rides, and sell model lorries etc. For a few years in the 1990s the company ran a fan club shop in Carlisle's city centre.

The Stobart family are strongly religious, and have donated much of their wealth to local churches.

In 2002, following difficulties caused by the fuel crisis, Eddie Stobart sold the company to his brother William and his business partner Andrew Tinkler who own a civil engineering company specialising in railway maintenance called W.A. Developments Ltd. which is presently based in Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria. Eddie Stobart Ltd. is now a subsidiary of WA Developments International Ltd. The two companies have separate headquarters, but are looking for a suitable site for a joint head office: possible locations are Penrith, Cumbria, Carlisle and Warrington.

It was announced in March 2006 that WA Developments International Ltd. are to buy Carlisle Airport from Haughey Airports Ltd. and is to develop the airport into a corporate headquarters for the group and build a new runway

Rail transport

From Tuesday 19 September, 2006 Stobart will be running a delivery train on behalf of Tesco. The train will run from the Stobart depot in Livingstone to a similar depot in Daventry, and then on to London - shipping the equivalent of 26 lorries. It will then unload, and return with a load to Daventry [1] It will travel at an average speed of 40mph, which is comparable with a lorry, although the whole process will take slightly longer because of additional loading and unloading. The train will be in Tesco corporate colours [2]