Eddie Stobart joins search for missing Maddie

The Stobart Group have joined the search for Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Portugal in May 2007. They have a brand new trailer which has been designed to give maximum publicity to trying to find her.

The photo is courtesy of and copyrighted to Lee Elliott.


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But this Eddie found her first

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At first I thought this was a late April Fool's prank. How on earth has the Eddie Stobart group got involved, were they approached by TM - this is getting beyond sick?

I understand the transport industry are experiencing hard times with the increased fuel costs. Maybe Eddie Stobart have been offered an incentive.

Hope they don't do any runs to Portugal, or meet any of the Portuguese truckers in Europe. If I see any going through France I'll let you know.

Stobart's trucking HQ is based in Warrington, Cheshire.
Could be therefore that Stobart's people have been rubbing shoulders with Kennedy's people at some local business function and have been persuaded that this stunt would be mutually beneficial.
All speculation on my part, but perfectly possible.
TM perpetuate the myth that Maddie is still alive on the motorways of the UK, and Stobart acquire the label of 'caring haulage company'.

Vested self-interest, mutual back-scratching. IMHO.

How old is this news? I can't access the MM forum, but doing a google I found this. Apparently this was being discussed Sept 2009 !!!!

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Edited to add, there are two different lorries in the photographs. Has anybody seen either of them yet ?

I found the link on JATYK and they were linking to Rosieplops blog and it was posted on Monday...so thought it was fairly new

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The properties on both photos from the original site says they were created on 15.4.10 which is today [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But on their news site it says this:

	Madeleine McCann Stobart join search	Date Added: 23/03/2010
	The Stobart Group have joined the search for Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Portugal in May 2007. They have a brand new trailer which has been [ [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ]

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Either more shenanigans or someone on MM can see into the future.

Here's another one, August 2009 !!!

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It looks as though good old Eddie Stobart, who is being lauded along with his brother on Rosiepops forum, doesn't actually own the firm any longer. Sold it in 2003 !!!!!

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No more Eddie Stobart spotting... he's selling up

By Barrie Clement, Transport Editor

Thursday, 16 October 2003



Eddie Stobart shocked Britain's lorry spotters yesterday when he revealed he had sold his eponymous haulage company to an international property development and civil engineering business.

The 48-year-old Cumbrian ­ motto "keep on trucking" ­ is to retire from what has become a national institution to spend more time with his partner and three-year-old daughter.

Mr Stobart built up the business to become Britain's biggest privately owned road haulier. His father gave him the company, an offshoot of his agricultural contracting business, in 1970. It now has 1,000 trucks, depots throughout Britain and even a fan club.

Eddie Stobart Promotions, part of the Carlisle-based group, has developed a line of Stobart paraphernalia, including toy lorries and T-shirts. The Sunday Times rich list puts the wealth of the Stobart brothers ­ brother William part-owns the business ­ at £60m.

"The secret is never to have an empty truck," says Mr Stobart. "If you take lemonade down somewhere, bring water back up. The trucks must be 100 per cent loaded all the time."

The company, which has been strongly identified with Cumbria, announced this summer that its administrative centre was moving from Carlisle to Merseyside. Its links with the region were further weakened when Mr Stobart put his home near Carlisle up for sale last month for £2.2m, saying he needed to be closer to business interests in the south and closer to a major airport. "My private life has been in Cumbria but I'm forced to spend more and more time away," he said. "I want to have my main home down south and a weekend home in Cumbria. At the moment it's the other way around."

Mr Stobart was an outspoken critic of the Government during the fuel protests in 2000, threatening to register half his fleet abroad to take advantage of lower taxes.

Andrew Tinkler, managing director of WA Developments (International), the new owner, said last night: "As far as we are concerned it will be business as usual for Eddie Stobart." The company name and red and green livery will be retained.

Steve O'Connor, Executive Director, Stobart Group owns Widnes Vikings Rugby Club.

Brian Kennedy owns Sale Sharks Rugby Club.

Distance between Widnes and Sale ........ 16 miles.

justagrannynow 1 wrote:Steve O'Connor, Executive Director, Stobart Group owns Widnes Vikings Rugby Club.

Brian Kennedy owns Sale Sharks Rugby Club.

Distance between Widnes and Sale ........ 16 miles.

Good detective work gran, another one of those strange coincidences then!

justagrannynow 1 wrote:Here's another one, August 2009 !!!

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I don't know why it's listed as 2009 because the thread was started on 9 April 2010

Stobart Group joins in the search for Madeleine
Bebootje on Fri 09 Apr 2010, 11:18 am


Madeleine McCann Stobart join search

The Stobart Group have joined the search for Madeleine McCann who disappeared in Portugal in May 2007. They have a brand new trailer which has been designed to give maximum publicity to trying to find her.
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Posted by jjp

This is more of a co-incidence - yet another one in this case - but there is a distant link between the Stobart Group and Brian Kennedy.

The CEO of the Stobart Group is Andrew Tinkler, childhood friend of William Stobart (Eddie's younger brother) who is also a current director of the Stobart Group.

When Andrew left school he did all sorts of jobs before setting up his own property and construction company.

One of those jobs was as a fitter for Everest Double Glazing. However this was more than ten years before Kennedy bought Everest in 1999.

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Source of information concerning Andrew Tinkler's co-incidental connection with Everest Double Glazing.

So at fifteen I left school. My first job was 200 yards down from where I lived. It was a joiner at a joiners shop. And I did cabinet making there. So I served my time as a cabinet maker. Three years doing that and then got a bit bored of that. And then I knew William Stobart quite well because even when I was fifteen I sort of was friends with him and he offered us a job washing wagons at Stobarts up at Carlisle here. So I packed my bags, come and lived with my sister in Carlisle, slept on the sofa and washed wagons at Stobarts and developed myself at Stobarts a bit. I went into the maintenance side and learnt a bit about mechanics. Then I started just painting trucks. And I did a bit of spraying in my early days when I was thirteen or fourteen in my dads workshop so I learnt, picked bits up there. So I was painting the wagons. Did that for a year, then tried a bit of farming. Back to joinery, just a bit of construction work on a big gas pipeline near Tebay that was running through to Carlisle. So I tried lots of things before I really settled down. And my last job before I did go on my own was Everest Double Glazing. And thats where I really started to learn about business because you were paid for what you did. You know what I mean, you were fitting windows and what you had to do was a quality job because if you didn't and somebody went back to that window they'd take money off you. So you had to make it a quality job in the efficient and as fast as time as possible so you made plenty of money...

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As Tinkler is now in his mid to late forties, I estimate his time at Everest was sometime during the mid 80's. He wouldn't therefore have met Kennedy there I don't think as Kennedy only bought Everest in 1999.