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Eddie Stobart death: Businessman behind iconic lorry brand dies aged 95

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Eddie Stobart death: Businessman behind iconic lorry brand dies aged 95

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The founding father of the UK’s most famous lorry agency has died aged 95.

Eddie Pears Stobart, who launched the haulage firm Eddie Stobart in 1946, died on 25 November.

Born in 1929 in Cumbria, he launched the agency to distribute fertiliser within the Fifties, portray his first lorry the now-famous put up workplace purple and Brunswick inexperienced.

However from 1973, it was his son, Edward, who turned the enterprise right into a multimillion-pound haulage empire and quirk of British tradition after taking it over.

Protecting with the inexperienced and purple colouring on the vehicles, he remodeled it right into a 1000-vehicle worldwide logistics agency by the point he offered it within the early 2000s.

Edward, who died in 2011 aged 56, additionally stored to his father’s custom of naming the lorries after ladies, with the primary 4 named after mannequin Twiggy, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Suzi Quatro.

Drivers have been additionally instructed to hoot their horns when folks waved, with many becoming a member of within the phenomenon of “Stobart recognizing” on Britain’s motorways.

A biography was revealed referred to as The Eddie Stobart Story, by journalist Hunter Davies, and the agency was celebrated in music. The Wurzels’ “I wanna be an Eddie Stobart driver”, launched to have a good time the corporate’s twenty fifth birthday in 1995.

‘Stobart recognizing’ grew to become a well-liked motorway sport (PA)

There was even an Eddie Stobart fan membership, which at its peak boasted 25,000 members.

The corporate, which has been rebranded to Stobart, is now owned by the Culina Group, and the naming of the lorries has ceased.

In line with an obituary inThe Occasions, Mr Stobart insisted he would by no means have named the corporate after himself if he knew it was going to grow to be nationally well-known.

A religious christian, Mr Stobart met his future spouse Nora at a Bible rally in Carlisle earlier than marrying on Boxing Day in 1951.

Following his retirement from his lorry enterprise within the Seventies, the couple lived close to Carlisle and have been energetic Church members.

The couple had 4 youngsters: Anne, John, Edward and William. Mr Stobart is survived by his daughter and son William.

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