“The retail motor industry compromises of 8,000 member sites and too often the Government listens intently to the manufacturing sector, but takes scant account of the interests of retailers,” said RMI deputy chairman Peter Johnson, speaking at this year’s Retail Motor Industry Federation annual dinner in London on 23 October 2014.
The DVLA warns that when applying online for a driving licence or to tax a vehicle, motorists should always make sure they use the official Gov.uk site. DVLA has been made aware of several websites offering a check and send service for driving licence or vehicle tax applications. Some sites exaggerate the nature of the services they provide, or deliberately underplay the services that people can get for free or at a lower cost from official sources.
“The RMI welcomes the news of the planned £1 minimum wage increase for apprentices in the UK,” said Sue Robinson, director of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, the leading automotive trade body in the UK.
Prominent tyre legislation campaigner, Frances Molloy has described the Secretary of State for Transport’s response to the issue of aged tyres in the market as “weak and lacking in leadership”. Molloy is lobbying the government to change the law on the fitment of over-age tyres, and gave a powerful presentation during Brityrex International’s TyreTalk seminar programme in Manchester. Describing the coalition government of being “anti-legislation”, Molloy vowed to maintain her campaign until the government introduces legislation to restrict the fitment of old tyres on Public Service Vehicles.
In the midst of party conference season, members of drivers lobby group The Alliance of British Drivers have reaffirmed their hostility to ‘Pay per mile’ road pricing following its re-appearance on the political radar. In a recent survey of its members 85 per cent said they were opposed to road pricing under any circumstances.
US trade organisation SEMA has been awarded part of a $2.2m federal grant to expand exports of automotive aftermarket products. The organisation, which represents the $33B automotive specialty equipment market, will seek growth in Russia, the United Arab Emirates and China, among others, giving its 6,800-plus members increased opportunity in foreign markets. The grant was awarded under the Market Development Cooperator programme within the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA). The body will assist SEMA with a new yearly fact-finding and sales mission to Russia; seeking regulations to allow US products equal market access by working with government officials; and organizing overseas vehicle measuring sessions in key emerging markets.
The proposals are contained in a public consultation on driver licensing fees. The consultation sets out a proposed reduction in driving licence fees of 32 per cent for digital transactions and 15 per cent for paper applications.
The Government has announced plans to raise the speed limit for lorries on single carriageway roads to 50 mph and the move has generated diametrically opposed views. On the pro side, Transport minister Claire Perry says that the move is part of a package of measures to cut congestion, reduce dangerous overtaking and help get the country moving. Brake, the road safety charity, has expressed serious concerns about the proposed limit increase and the announcement comes as a survey by Brake and Digby Brown solicitors reveals the extent of risky driving on country roads.
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.
A new £24 million government fund is intended to give UK-based automotive suppliers a boost. Announced today by Business Minister Michael Fallon at the Automotive Council’s Meet the Buyer event at ExCeL London, the Tooling Funding Programme will help component manufacturers design, develop and manufacture new tooling where they would otherwise fail to acquire funds.
At a meeting on 6 May, members of the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority unanimously voted to support the tyre aging motion that has arisen from the campaign begun by Liverpool woman Frances Molloy following the 2012 death of her son in a coach crash. The motion, titled Coach Safety & Prevention of Road Traffic Accidents, calls for an age limit of six years to be placed on tyres fitted to coaches.
As the May issue of Tyres & Accessories went to press, the government shared details of how its Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) is going to spend its £500 million funding allowance. For its part, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) duly welcomed the half a billion pound funding boost for low emission vehicles, characterising the move as part of a wider campaign to make the UK “a leader in the development and take-up of low emission vehicles”. Clearly this is on the political and commercial agendas (at least as far as the automotive manufacturers are concerned), but what does this all mean for the tyre business in general? And, with this year’s Tyre Retail feature published from page 26 of this issue, what does this mean for garages and tyre retail in particular?
The RAC report it is launching its first mobile electric charging system at GreenFleet Scotland to cater for the UK’s expanding electric vehicle (EV) market which now consists of more than 9,000 vehicles. A standard RAC diesel VW Transporter van has been fully equipped with an Evrescue, totally portable fast charging unit which can deliver around 15 miles of range to a stricken electric vehicle in less than half an hour. Equivalent to a ‘gallon of electricity’, the RAC believes this should be sufficient to get the driver safely on their way home or to the nearest charging point.
Michelin has reinvigorated plans to invest more than 410 million zloty (almost 100 million euros) in the modernisation of its Olsztyn agricultural tyre plant in northern Poland, first mooted in August 2013.
Council chiefs have warned that the country is facing a roads crisis that is escalating at an “alarming pace” after new research put the cost of bringing highways up to a decent standard at over £12bn.
The Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey from the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) shows that councils fixed just over 2m potholes in England and Wales last year, yet record rainfall meant the overall conditions of local roads deteriorated again.
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