Tyre aging Bill presented to House of Commons
The campaign for tighter laws on aged tyres has taken another step forward with the presentation of a Bill in the House of Commons calling for a maximum age limit for tyres fitted to public service vehicles. The Ten Minute Rule Bill was introduced by Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotherham yesterday, and although approval is by no means certain it achieves the important aim of increasing awareness of the dangers aged tyres can pose. Per the Bill, operating a public service vehicle with tyres that are ten or more years old would become an offence; this age limit would be enforced by Traffic Commissioners, and tyre age checked and recorded during the annual vehicle test. Rotherham also stated that the Bill would accommodate tyre manufacturers’ ongoing research, and the proposed maximum age limit could thus “easily be increased” should evidence verify that a newly-developed bus or coach tyre was “demonstrably safe” beyond ten years of age.
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Over inflated part worn market figures
One of the Eagle-eyed editors at Tyres & Accessories’ German sister title, Neue Reifenzeitung recently dropped us a line with regard to our coverage of insurance firm Liverpool Victoria’s research into the UK part worn tyre market (see “23 million part worns sold since 2009” online and in the June issue of the magazine for the original story). In short it seems that while we accurately reported the figures that were released to the press, some of the calculations undergirding the report’s claims couldn’t bear their own mathematical weight. Or in other words the research shows that annual worn tyre demand is less than 4 million units annually and not knocking on the door of 6 million tyres a year (5.7 million units annually was the precise figure) that was originally quoted.
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Is Unipart Automotive being lined up for sale to Euro Car Parts?
With numerous sources reporting that loss-making parts firm Unipart Automotive is just days away from a rescue plan (which you might read as a sales of the company), and with at least three bidders being associated with the deal, fast-growing rival Euro Car Parts could be seen as a front runner. But first a little background. Following the initial news reports Unipart Automotive was close to calling in the administrators on 8 July, a day later minority shareholder Unipart Group clarified its relationship to Unipart Automotive:
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Co-operative Funeralcare extends Michelin fitment policy
The share of Michelin tyres fitted to Co-operative Funeralcare’s vehicle fleet has risen from around 30 per cent in 2007 to more than 90 per cent today, and proportion of vehicles wearing Michelin rubber is likely to continue rising after Co-operative extended its agreement with the tyre maker for a further two years.
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Renfrew tyre fire under control
According to an update posted by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at 10:35am, around 30 firefighters remain in attendance at a blaze in Renfew, near Glasgow. A “large quantity” of tyres caught fire yesterday evening and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been on the scene since 10pm; at the height of the incident, 15 appliances and approximately 75 firefighters were involved.
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Halfords appoints technical training manager
Halfords Autocentres has hired Satnam Singh to head-up its technical training team, a new role that it says “reflects the increasing focus that Halfords Autocentres is placing on training” and on investing to give its technicians “the expertise necessary to be able to service any make or model of car.”
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Pelmar removing, selling equipment from Fort Dunlop motorsport tyre plant
At the end of May, tyre manufacture at Dunlop Motorsport’s plant in Birmingham came to an end, with car tyre production transferred to Goodyear Dunlop’s Hanau factory in Germany and motorcycle tyre production to the company’s Montlucon facility in France. While some of the machinery from the Fort Dunlop facility will be shipped to other sites, most will be sold off; the Pelmar Group reports that it has been appointed to dispose of equipment from the plant.
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