History of Stan Robinson Distribution

The growth over the last thirty five years of Stan Robinson, owner driver, into Stan Robinson Distribution is, in many ways, a very inspiring story of human endeavour, personal values and commercial vision.

Stan himself left his local Grammer school at fifteen with the words of his headmaster ringing in his ears - namely that, “Robinson, you won’t make a living with your head, so you had better make it with your hands.”

Always keen on agriculture, the first three years of his working life were spent on a local farm before Stan moved to lorry driving at the tender age of eighteen. For the next ten years he stuck at it until he moved into selling seed for a corn merchant at the princely sum of twenty five pounds per week. Being Stan, he worked hard, did well and was offered a job with another company at the then mighty sum of forty pounds per week. However, Stan didn’t take the job, buying himself a lorry instead and the Stan Robinson story really took off.

Stan remembers his first loads, taking building blocks from the Midlands to Manchester and Liverpool and bringing cattle feed back for the local farms. He was working six days a week and handballing off the loads himself. As he says, “I could move ten tons in ten minutes - I was young and fit then!” Stan got his reward though when in 1999, Stan Robinson Distribution won the coveted “Haulier of the Year” award, receiving the award at the Albert Hall in front of his peers. (The citation in full can be viewed on www.trans-assoc.org.uk). The company has tried to avoid, over the years, the more populated and highly competitive sections of the market and tried to concentrate on the more “niche” sectors and is famous now for its express pallet services.

Nowadays and with the company still growing, Stan Robinson Distribution has one hundred and sixty vehicles on the road, employs two hundred and twenty five people and has four depots around the UK. You can still find Stan with his shirt sleeves rolled up though, driving a fork lift at one of the depots if needed, digging a trench for a new office extension or actively involved in solving a problem at one of the depots.

The fact is, Stan Robinson Distribution still values the work force, reflecting Stan’s own background. Staff are rewarded for results and encouraged to be part of the Stan Robinson Distribution family.

Stan also believes in putting something back into the communities his companies operate in and has recently become the main sponsor of Willand Rovers Football club in Devon, with the club‘s ground now called the Stan Robinson Stadium. The company formally was the main sponsor to Stafford Rangers and Stafford still have Stan Robinson on the front of its shirts. Willand Rovers, newly promoted to the Premier Division of the Tool Station Western League, are delighted to be associated with a company with the status of Stan Robinson distribution. The club’s Commercial Manager, Bruce Henderson, says, “Stan Robinson Distribution are growing, financially secure, ambitious and yet still value the individual. These are the characteristics of our club in our own smaller way. The company and its work force may be ahead on Britain’s roads but Willand Rovers are delighted to have them behind us on the playing field”.

If you are interested in being part of the family or being a client and finding out about the service that has set Stan Robinson Distribution apart, call your nearest depot, refferring to this web-site.