Iconic lorry company founder Eddie Stobart has passed away at the age of 95. His representatives confirmed this morning, Wednesday, December 18, that he died on November 25.
Mr Stobart, whose full name was Eddie Pears Stobart, initially set up a small agricultural business in 1946, undertaking farm contracts and distributing fertiliser, as well as running a farm shop. The enterprise evolved into the renowned Eddie Stobart trucking firm later in the 1940s.
The firm’s first lorry, a used Guy Invincible four-wheeler, hit the UK roads in 1960. It debuted the signature green and red colours of the fleet, as reported by the Mirror.
Mr Stobart witnessed his company grow to own and operate over 2,500 vehicles but had stepped back from the day-to-day running in recent years. His youngest son took the reins of the company in the 1970s, propelling it to become the transportation behemoth we know today.
Eddie Stobart is not only one of the most recognised names in the logistics sector but also beloved for allowing drivers to name their lorries, a legacy of Mr Stobart’s that began with names like ‘Maggie’, ‘Betty’, and ‘Rosie’.
These names captured public imagination, with passersby often stopping to snap photos of the trucks, granting them unique identities linked to the myriad deliveries they performed.
Modern Eddie Stobart trucks have closer connections to their drivers, and have a much broader range of names that come from multiple countries, and may have different meanings to boot.
Among the modern names that have been spotted on the roads are Finnish Tuula Karina, Welsh Angharad, and even Optimus Prime after the head Autobot in the Transformers franchise. Some names are more statements in nature, including Saoirse Erin, an Irish name that translates to ‘Free Ireland’.