Eddie Stobart: Trucks and Trailers

A treacherous 500-mile mission sees a 25 tonne load of logs being transported from an icy Scottish forest to the garden of England in Kent. Mark Dixon has huge problems as the job hits the skids. BioMass maestro Tim Fox collects 27 tonnes of salt from the oldest working salt mine in the UK to take to Kent, where it will be spread on the roads to make winter driving safer. At Stobart's Southend Airport, a brand new state-of-the-art plane de-icer has just been added to the elite fleet. It is immediately put to the test to dispel the deadly winter frost, but it is a tricky technical job with a host of hidden dangers. Finally, Welsh wizard Ashley Maddocks finds himself driving out of his homeland and into trucking hell, as he battles the nightmare of London traffic on a multi-drop day.

In Stobart’s very own ‘War of the Roses’ there is a Battle of the Biomass, as Lancashire man Tim Fox takes on Yorkshire’s Craig Garside in a race to deliver a shared load to North Wales. With 200 miles of tarmac standing between the truckers and their destination, who will be the first to deliver his sawdust, and will it be on time? In a classic battle of experience versus youth, with a few dirty tricks thrown in, it remains to be seen whether Tim will outfox the young pretender to his Biomass crown. Meanwhile, Mark Dixon takes on Mother Nature as he attempts to stay ahead of the snow. He is looking for a working farm, but with weather conditions against him and roads marked ‘Unsuitable for HGVs’, will Mark’s trucking know-how get him to his destination safe and sound? Day driver and culture vulture Matt Ekins has been tasked with the special mission of taking a Stobart Truck to an art gallery in Central London, where an exhibition of Stobart truck spotters’ photographs is taking place. However, workaholic Matt has a delivery to make en route and then gets snarled up in London traffic. Faced with the prospect of letting down his fans, the trucker’s fighting spirit comes to the fore. In Cambridgeshire, Welsh wizard Ashley Maddocks has to pray that the heavens are smiling on him as he delivers a state-of-the art trailer-cum-classroom to a secondary school.

In Scotland, new driver to the series Paul Steele puts his brand new truck to the test on one of Britain’s most dangerous roads. Can his new home – with a cab to rival the plushest hotel suite – stand up to snow and ice? He has a load of plants to deliver and hopes that they will survive the trip as temperatures outside plummet. Also braving the freak winter weather up North is tanker driver Mark Ashurst. Facing freezing conditions on a night drive through the Lake District, he must get his load of fuel to the company’s Carlisle depot in order to keep the trucks on the road. Down at Southampton docks, transporter driver Gareth Ayres is facing a somewhat different challenge. He must safely load £1m worth of luxury motors in dwindling daylight, then drive through the rain and dark to reach a safe overnight stop. If his valuable load is not delivered to two car dealerships intact and without a scratch, he could find himself in hot water.

Biomass trucker Craig Garside is undaunted at taking on a 172-mile journey delivering a mucky load of loose peat. For someone as experienced as Craig it should be a piece of cake, but will an unexpected wall of freezing fog around the Pennines stop him in his tracks? Multi-drop maestro Dave Pickerill faces his worst nightmare. He has two days to make ten deliveries on his least favourite route, the outskirts of London. Will he be able to beat the London traffic and complete his marathon? Mild-mannered Andy Thornton prides himself on being on time, every time. For this long-haul trucker, travelling the length and breadth of the country is all in a day’s work. A 278-mile trek from Middlesbrough to Magor in Monmouthshire should be no problem, but a nasty surprise awaits when a motorway accident forces Andy to take a huge cross-country detour.

Faced with the problem of delivering a 24 tonne replica plane for intended use as a fire simulator at their Southend Airport, the company calls in the experts from their Rail Division. Transporting such a huge load presents major difficulties and they need all their experience, resourcefulness and ingenuity to overcome them. Meanwhile, Liverpudlian driver Jimmy Callaghan is on a tough multi-drop mission around Manchester when his massive truck gets stuck in a packed car park, leading to an altercation with a concerned car driver. Elsewhere, trucker Ian O’Neill has two deliveries to make. Ordinarily this would be no problem, but the driving conditions are atrocious. Battling through the treacherous snowy weather, he is determined to complete his quest. For the staff of Stobart’s busy Crick depot in the Midlands, today is the end of an era as the firm are relocating to a brand newsite. Mark Dixon makes an emotional final run out of it, and some lucky members of the firm’s fan club get an access-all areas tour of Crick before the padlock is locked on the depot for the final time.

It is full speed ahead in Stobart’s rail and air divisions as the company’s reach grows ever larger, but trucking remains at the heart of the business and the new car transporter division brings in loads worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. For biomass trucker Craig Garside, collecting clay pellets from a factory in Goole presents an unwelcome mathematical problem. Just as he thinks that his troubles are over, he runs into some nasty fog. Will he manage to get his pellets to the concrete factory on time? In the Midlands, this is a happy day for Matt Ekins, who is turning his back on the classroom and his role as a driver trainer and going back to his spiritual home – the road. The temptation of the tarmac proved too much of a pull and Matt is delighted to be driving out of the new Rugby depot. However, he soon gets a dose of trucking reality when he is caught in a traffic snarl-up, threatening to derail his first delivery.

Stobart veteran Jimmy Callaghan, is on thin ice as he battles freezing winter conditions on a triple drop in the Lake District. Leaving his beloved Liverpool behind, the former soldier heads up country across frozen hills and melting ice with a truck full of roll cages. Will he make his drops and return to the golden glow of a hometown pint in one piece?

Tim Fox embarks on an epic biomass delivery, starting in Cumbria, going on to Northumberland and ending at a power station in Scotland. A mechanical fault develops on the walking-floor trailer, however, which threatens to bring the whole delivery to a halt. On the hunt for new trucks, Head of Fleet David Cox flies out to the Volvo factory in Sweden to size up the next generation of tractor units. Claims that these new models can cut emissions by up to 80% are an appealing proposition and David hopes to be able to increase the fuel efficiency of the fleet. Elsewhere, Matt Ekins has only been back on the road for a week, when he is handed a Friday run around London. Will it be green lit all the way, or will Matt be in for a day of capital punishment? Eddie Stobart’s distinctive green-and-red vans can be seen all over Britain, and Craig Chambers and his wash team are proud to send them out each day looking spick and span. Keeping the trucks pristine is no easy feat, but Craig can call upon the best-kept secret in the war against grime. Step forward Sammy the Shammy!