Eddie Stobart dead as tributes pour in for motorway king who gave every lorry its own name

ok.co.uk:

Eddie Stobart, the founder of the iconic trucking firm, has sadly passed away, it was revealed today. Eddie, whose full name was Eddie Pears Stobart, initially established a small agricultural business in 1946 that carried out contract work for farms and distributed fertiliser.

He also ran a farm shop, with the business evolving into the family-named trucking firm later in the 1940s.The company's first lorry, a second-hand Guy Invincible four-wheeler, hit UK roads in 1960, sporting the famous Eddie Stobart green and red colour scheme.

At its inception, the modest company had just eight lorries and 12 employees. Eddie sadly passed away on Monday, 25 November at the age of 95, leaving behind a company that now owns and operates more than 2,500 vehicles.

However, he had stepped back from the business over the last few decades. His youngest son Edward took the reins of the firm in the 1970s when he was just 21, transforming it into the haulage giant we know today.