There is an insidious force taking over the world.

(A tongue-in-cheek expose),

Ubiquitous, as in a crowd, invisible to sight,

Relentless rolling through the day, anonymous by night

Corporately liveried in red and green and white

Just who can stop the juggernaut that’s Eddie rolling on?

From Tebay up in Cumbria and south down the M6

And every other major route where you might get your kicks

You’ll find on each and every cab the names of all his chicks

But Eddie took his pick of them – the best have now all gone.

There’s Isabella, Charlotte, Betty-Belle and Sweet Lorraine

Christina, Sylvie-Rose and the simple Mary Jane

Siren sisters one and all raised from the Dark Domain

Protect him from the wider world where fortunes flow and ebb;

At Toddington and Watford Gap and Leicester Forest East

His spotters mark their notebooks with the number of the Beast

And at the Mecca of Carlisle where feeds the frenzied feast

He pulls the strings of Empiredom from seated in his web.

They do not care for Rollers, Bentleys, Fords or Cadillacs

A Lotus or Bugatti or those speedsters of the track

Their tools of trade are notebooks, cameras, Primark anoraks

“Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” chant adoring acolytes;

His drivers in green uniforms so smart in shirt and tie

A job they take their pride in – only heroes need apply;

All corporate ambassadors who each exemplify

The chivalry and valour of these modern roadside knights.

And progress is evaluated on strategic plans

To monopolise provision of containers, trucks and vans

That run the roads and motorways from Crewe to Kurdistan

So populous and commonplace not worth a second look:

With fleets and fleets of vehicles all bearing one proud name

And line on line of stormtroopers all liveried the same

Then children on long journeys play a different backseat game

Of keeping spot for lorries that are not a Stobart truck.