Battle between Stobart Group bosses and ex-chief executive set for High Court

A BOARDROOM battle featuring bosses at a multi-million infrastructure business which started up in an isolated Lake District village half a century ago is set to be played out at the High Court.

Bosses at the Stobart Group, which began life when founder Eddie Stobart went into business as an agricultural contractor in Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria, during the 1960s, have sued former chief executive Andrew Tinkler.

They say Mr Tinkler conspired with other businessmen to harm the company’s interests.

They have also have made claims about money spent on air travel, and want a judge to rule that he was lawfully dismissed as an employee earlier this year.

Mr Tinkler, a former cabinetmaker who was chief executive of the business between 2007 and 2017, denies wrongdoing, saying he was removed for no good reason, and has counterclaimed.

Judge Jonathan Russen is due to start overseeing a trial in London today.

A timeline on the Stobart Group website outlines the development of the business.

It tells how Eddie Stobart Ltd was created in 1970, moved into road transport and became one of Britain’s best-known brands.

Stobart sold its transport and distribution division as part of a “strategic partial realisation” in 2014.

The Stobart Group retained a 49 per cent share of the Eddie Stobart business, which operated privately.

The Stobart Group is now “an infrastructure and support services business” which owns and manages a “range of key infrastructure sites”.

The firm’s founder Eddie Stobart was born to parents John and Adelaide Stobart in July 1929. He and his wife Nora had four children.

He bought his first lorry (a Guy Invincible four-wheeler truck) second-hand from the local garage in 1960, and had it re-painted in his choice of colours: post office red and Brunswick green.