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Automotive industry charity BEN seeks to raise tyre business profile

A walk around automotive industry charity BEN’s residential care centre facility – and former Victorian country house – Town Thorns in rural Warwickshire presents visitors with an inspiring vision of what the organisation has achieved since it was set up in 1905. The care home, alongside three others spanning the length of England and a day care centre in Coventry, provides shelter for the most vulnerable people with a connection to the British automotive industry, though BEN’s scope has an even greater remit, providing, in its own words, “practical, emotional or financial support” according to their needs. The charity also offers confidential welfare – including emotional in addition to financial support – providing care for the short-term as well as for the more long-term cases seen in the residential homes. BEN officers also receive back-up from “BEN Friends”, who usually keep in touch with beneficiaries. A recent survey suggests that one in ten people in the UK could be entitled to BEN support should the need arise, a number that could rise to one in three in the West Midlands.

4th April 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

The Goodyear blimp is back

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a UFO? No, despite the scores of twitterers that misidentified the well-known motor-driven airship during a night flight over London, it’s the Goodyear blimp, which returned to European airspace during March after a 12-year leave of absence.

Over the last decade, Goodyear Blimps have flown over the USA, Brazil and China, but this news marks the first European tour since 1999. Between March and October, two Goodyear Blimps named Spirit of Safety I and Spirit of Safety II will visit 20 countries, with the tour starting in the UK. Shortly after the aforementioned night-flight over London, Tyres & Accessories went blimping on the Goodyear airship and found out a little more about the craft’s current mission.

28th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin hosts Zambian driver-trainers at tyre safety awareness course

Michelin made a contribution to the Transaid Professional Driver Training project in sub-Saharan Africa, where road accidents are the third highest cause of premature death after HIV/AIDS and malaria, by hosting a training session on 17 March for two Zambian commercial vehicle driving instructors at its UK headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent. The tyre manufacturer’s Sales Process and Training manager Richard Whitehurst oversaw the full-day tyre safety workshop with the instructors, who are employees of the Industrial Training Centre (ITC) in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka.

21st March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli’s Hembery made Richard Burns Foundation trustee

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, has become a trustee of the Richard Burns Foundation, established in memory of the 2001 world rally champion. “Richard was the first world champion I worked with and he set the bar in terms of being a highly motivated and competitive athlete, while remaining a very grounded, decent person and I was proud to call him a friend,” said Hembery. “Taking on the role of trustee for the Richard Burns Foundation is a privilege.”

15th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Blimp to promote European road safety

Goodyear’s brand event in Seville earlier this year (a report will be published in March’s Tyres & Accessories) saw the company talking up a safety message through its promotion of its new Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 and UltraGrip 8 tyres, but the company plans to do more than provide increased safety features through its products. European brand director Hugues Despres announced that “the Goodyear Blimp will take the lead on a number of road safety initiatives as it becomes the focal point for Goodyear’s consumer based activities and events.” This will be the Blimp’s first return to Europe for over 10 years, embarking on the 2011 Goodyear Safety Tour.

4th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Infinity Tyres supports SAATHI initiative

Infinity Tyres was the first supporter this year of the SAATHI social advocacy initiative, which strives to achieve “a better quality of living for individuals with special needs.” In line with Infinity’s mission to give back to the community, the company reports that it is finding “unique ways to make a difference in our local communities.”

15th February 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Dunlop Goes Solar in Germany

It may not be the sunny season in Europe right now yet solar energy still has a role to play in our region. Goodyear Dunlop has shown its confidence in the technology through investing in an 87,000 square metre solar facility at its Philippsburg plant in southern Germany. The set-up installed on the roof of the tyre warehouse at Philippsburg by regenerative energy specialists PV julist and juwi is said to be the third largest rooftop solar power plant in the world and is expected to provide an output of 7.4 MW and 7.3 million kWh per annum, equivalent to the annual requirements of approximately 1,800 households.

13th January 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Solar Power for Yokohama China Site

Yokohama Rubber intends to reduce its greenhouse gases by 25 per cent (using the year 1990 as a benchmark) by 2020, and to achieve this target the company is introducing natural energy sources and more energy efficient equipment. As part of this programme, China based company subsidiary Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd. is installing a photovoltaic power generation system at its head office administration building and guardhouse. The solar power equipment to be fitted there is comprised of seven hundred and twenty nine 100-watt panels in a space of approximately 3,000 square meters, and these will supply about 67,000 kWh of electricity annually – about 0.3 per cent of the facility’s requirement – and cut CO2 emissions by about ninety four tons per year. This first solar power system installed at a Yokohama Rubber company outside of Japan will enter operation in February 2011.

12th January 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin's Stained Glass Investigation Closes in on Missing Windows

The team set up by Michelin to track down three original stained glass windows missing from London's iconic Michelin House building are reportedly “closing in” on the missing windows. In order to find the iconic relics of Michelin’s history the company set up a confidential hotline and webpage offering a “window amnesty” in exchange for information as to the stained-glass creation’s whereabouts. Now in the latest instalment in this tale of intrigue, Michelin is reporting that the phone lines have “proved busy with calls and tip-offs from across the UK.”

The tyre giant issued the amnesty two weeks ago in an attempt to get back the three missing original stained glass windows that once adorned the sumptuous Art Deco inspired Michelin House building on the Fulham Road, London. Michelin reports that the hotline and web pages have been “hot with rumour and speculation, with over 300 visits a day to the website since the amnesty was announced and a host of phone tip-offs that are helping to close the net on the missing windows.” Information including sightings has so far centred on the windows being last seen in the 1980s at Michelin storage facilities, a possible link to them being whisked out of the country to Australia and an anonymous call claiming they were sold onto a memorabilia collector based in the South East.

8th December 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

ATS Euromaster Hosts Road Safety Demos for Birmingham Pupils

Over 500 children in Birmingham gained valuable experience in road safety last week, when Aston-based tyre specialist ATS Euromaster organised a series of practical demonstrations at Anderton Park School in Balsall Heath (24 November) and Coleshill Heath Junior & Infants School in Chelmsley Wood (25 November). The special lessons were arranged to support National Road Safety Week (22-28 November) and saw a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) squeeze into the playgrounds at both schools to help highlight a series of key safety messages involving stopping distances, driver reaction times and vehicle blind spots.

1st December 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

NETA Supports Yorkshire Air Ambulance With Charity Efforts

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), which provides a life saving emergency service to the five million people across the county, has today received a cheque at their base at Leeds Bradford Airport worth £1000 from Deborah Horton of North Eastern Tyre and Autocare (NETA). The cheque was handed over following a string of fundraising efforts undertaken by the vehicle care specialists.

Deborah Horton is area retail manager for NETA, which has seven retail centres, 15 HiQ Fast Fit centres operated under franchise, as well as five wholesale depots across the North East and Yorkshire. She explains why the charity is so close to NETA’s heart: “The YAA works across the entire region covering rural landscape, major cities as well as motorways and thanks to its rapid response to emergencies it is responsible for rescuing hundreds of lives, many of which are the result of road accidents.”

19th October 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Receives Special Commendation for its Football Sponsorship

Korean manufacturer Kumho has been recognised in conjunction with Manchester United Football Club – which the company sponsors – for their ‘Play Safer’ programme; a road safety scheme run with a football theme and backed by Greater Manchester Police. The tyre-maker received a Special Commendation Award in the Best Club Sponsorship category at the Northwest Football Awards 2010, held at Lancashire County Cricket Club’s conference and cricket-watching venue The Point.

18th October 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Tire Sponsors Bull Riders for Breast Cancer Charity

Cooper Tire is getting involved with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s October “Think Pink” campaign in the USA. “Cooper is thrilled to join hands with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to support and raise awareness of this disease that affects not only women, but the men in their lives, as well,” said Dave Craig, Cooper's director of channel and consumer development. “The Professional Bull Riders is a wonderful demonstration of this, proving that men are just as passionate about fighting breast cancer and are not afraid to show their true colours — pink.”

15th October 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

BTCC Fans Help HiQ to Raise £5k

Up to 42,000 British Touring Car Championship fans have been praised by HiQ for helping to raise £5,000 for Breast Cancer Care. Clad in pink, the network descended upon Brands Hatch to make the final race weekend of the season one to remember for HiQ's official charity. The fast fit network’s pink girls were on hand to give away caps and replica cars in return for donations to the cause, and after counting the particularly heavy collections buckets from Sunday, the network can now reveal that £5,000 was raised through generous donations. Of that total, the BTCC marshals at Brands Hatch have been singled out for a special mention, after raising £600 themselves.

14th October 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear 32nd on US Social Responsibility List

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has been named one of the Top 50 US companies for social responsibility by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and the Reputation Institute. The tyre manufacturing giant earned a rating of 74.4 in a survey of US consumers, leading to a ranking of 32nd on the 2010 Boston College Corporate Social Responsibility Index. Goodyear is the only company in the automotive or tire industries listed.

14th October 2010/by Tyrepress Editors