The National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) has published its Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market report for August. The report shows that during July the average values of used LCV’'s at auction across the board rose by just 1 per cent from £4,188 to £4,224 between July and August. Total sales volumes increased 18 per cent from 6,007 to 7,101 units.
The Shadow Secretary of State for Transport has requested a meeting with her non-shadow counterpart to talk tyres after learning of the role a 19 year old tyre played in a fatal coach crash last year. Garston and Halewood MP Maria Eagle, whose electorate was home to 18-year old Michael Molloy, one of three killed in last September’s crash, wishes to discuss the need for tyre age to be considered in law.
Speaking at the inquest into a fatal coach crash caused by the catastrophic failure of a 19-year old tyre, Surrey coroner Richard Travers stated that he would ensure the DfT was officially informed about the dangers posed by aged tyres. The tyre responsible for the crash was older than the coach it was fitted to, had never been regrooved or retreaded, was purchased second hand by the coach operator – and was completely legal.
An inquest that opened at Woking Civic Offices yesterday adds substantial weight to the argument for tyre aging laws. The inquest into the crash of a 52-seat coach last September, which claimed three lives, has heard the coach lost control and left the road following the failure of a its front nearside tyre – a tyre manufactured more than 19 years earlier.
BEN, the automotive industry charity will be celebrating its 108th birthday and the arrival of a new member of staff, Benjamin Bear, during the week 15th – 21st July 2013. The annual celebration, National BEN Week, has become a focus for many supportive industry concerns and this year, with the new theme 'Bear Us In Mind', fundraising expectations are running high. The ‘Bear Us In Mind' theme aims to encourage automotive companies to get their staff involved in having fun whilst raising awareness and funds for the charity. The suggested minimum target of £108, in recognition of BEN's age, reflects 108 years of care and support for automotive industry people.
Nearly year after the UAE banned the sale of used tyres, local news sources report that an import ban has been added to measures designed to curb the part worn trade. The new law is part of a tyre management plan implemented by the Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (Esma), which will implement the ban on the import of used tyres in September. In the meantime, the existing federal law is “being openly flouted by traders and workshops in Sharjah and Dubai”, according to Gulf News.
Pro-Align has trained Team UK Auto Tech’s Alex Knight on the Hunter Elite TD imaging aligner in readiness for World Skills Leipzig 2013. Pro-Align trainer Barry Sumner helped Knight familiarise himself with the Hunter imaging aligner with QuickGrip targets, which will be the featured alignment equipment at World Skills Leipzig, extending his alignment knowledge. Knight commented, “My previous wheel alignment experience has been rather limited, so today was invaluable. The Hunter is so quick, easy to use, and far better than anything else I have used in the past.”
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After seven years as chairman of the Automotive Aftermarket Divisional Board at Robert Bosch GmbH, Robert Hanser is stepping down on 30 June. The company says he is doing so due to his age. From 1 July, Hanser will join the Bosch Management Support GmbH board of management, a body of senior experts who act in an advisory capacity for Bosch across the world.
The Government should thoroughly examine ways to improve the safety of young drivers and their passengers, says PACTS, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. It welcomes the forthcoming Government green paper on young driver safety. Despite public and parliamentary concern, successive governments have not got to grips with the issue, according to a policy paper from PACTS, issued ahead of a debate in Parliament on road safety on Thursday 25 April.
Last Sunday saw some tightly contested drift battles at the Mondello Motorsport Park, with James Deane coming out on top in the first round of the Irish Drifting Championship. In his Falken sponsored Mazda RX-7, the 21-year-old Irishman saw off rivals Gavin Lenihan and Shane O’Sullivan from Team Japspeed, who took second and third place respectively.
The organiser of Tyrexpo Asia 2013 recorded a “substantial increase in visitors” to this year’s Singapore show. Exactly 4,355 individual visitors from 97 countries attended the trade exhibition held at the Singapore Expo Centre between 19 and 21 March, an increase of 22.5 per cent in comparison to the 2011 show’s prior record. Exhibitor numbers at the 2013 show were 64 per cent higher than two years ago, with 250 suppliers displaying their products at Tyrexpo Asia 2013.
Next month's final two rounds of the Protyre Formula Renault BARC Championship at Silverstone will see the famous Brabham family name represented in the series for the first time with Matthew Brabham, son of Geoff and grandson of Formula One legend Sir Jack, set to make his UK race debut.
Former NTDA president and BMTR chairman Don Smith died recently at the age of 89.
Don Smith’s long and influential tyre career began after the war, when he took over the running of the family business – Birmingham Motor Tyre Repository, one of the longest established tyre businesses in the country – from his father, J. J. Smith. He was a staunch supporter of the NTDA, and was the association’s president in 1969. Later he was appointed an honorary member and also served as a trustee of the association in the early nineties.
Dutch tyre and rubber machinery manufacturer VMI reports that its former president and CEO, Coos Spanjer, passed away on Tuesday 4 September 2012, at the age of 68.
If an article in one South African newspaper is correct, the concept behind the country’s new tyre recycling scheme was stolen from another organisation. The New Age has printed claims made by Jeff Osborne, CEO of industry association the Retail Motor Industry (RMI). According to The New Age, Osborne says the REDISA plan, approved by the South African government last week, was “stolen from under their noses by the former chairperson of a sister organisation.”
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