The journey that made Andrew Tinkler Britain’s king of the road has been like many others that begins the hill country of Cumbria: long, twisting and with plenty of ups and downs.

One of the many jobs Mr Tinkler had was washing trucks at a Cumbrian haulage business called Eddie Stobart. Now Eddie Stobart and its ubiquitous dark-green trucks – each with its own female name and uniformed staff – are part of an empire that stretches as far as Ukraine and encompasses trains, ports and airports. And Mr Tinkler is chief executive.