Frances Molloy, who has campaigned for the introduction of tyre aging laws following the death of her teenage son in a coach crash caused by the failure of a 19-year old tyre, says she is determined to keep going despite the content of a letter received from Patrick McLoughlin. The Secretary of State for Transport reportedly stated he is” not persuaded” that legislation to restrict the age of tyres is “appropriate at this stage”.
Just under a century after its introduction, Chancellor George Osborne has announce announced that tax discs will be withdrawn in favour of the electronic register already in operation. Of course, this doesn’t mean an end to vehicle excise duty (VED), just the system by which it is administered. An increase in the use of ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) equipment is expected in order to enforce the paperless tax regime. The changes due to take effect in October 2014.
Russian government-owned oil company Rosneft and state corporation Rostec (Russian Technologies) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Pirelli. Under the MoU, signed on 26 November, the three parties agree to the joint research and development of materials to be used in tyre manufacture.
The Freight Transport Association has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer ahead of his Autumn Statement on 5 December, asking him to confirm his commitment to freeze fuel duty until 2015 in order to stimulate economic growth and give businesses confidence to invest in the future.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has shown a continuous reluctance to increase fuel duty, and in his speech to the Conservative party conference in September he said that he wanted to freeze fuel duty for the rest of this Parliament. However, this came with the significant caveat “provided we can find the savings to pay for it.”
Canada’s transportation regulatory body, Transport Canada, has outlined a number of changes in regulations pertaining to tyres. The new regulations, announced by Transport Minister Lisa Raitt on 20 November, are intended to enhance the safety of tyres manufactured for the Canadian market; they also bring Canadian regulations more closely in line with those enforced in the United States. Manufacturers have until 1 September 2014 to comply with the regulations.
The use of speed cameras is supported by the majority of the motoring public, according to the latest research published by road safety charity, the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Eighty per cent of motorists accept the use of speed cameras, but this is down one per cent on last year’s survey. Seventy nine per cent think that […]
Cabot Corporation, the second largest carbon black manufacturer in the United States, has agreed to pay a US$975,000 civil penalty and spend an estimated $84 million on state of the art technology to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) from its carbon black plants in Franklin and Ville Platte, Louisiana, and Pampa, Texas. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice, these measures will resolve alleged violations of the New Source Review (NSR) provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at these three facilities.
Over 9,500 construction jobs will be supported in 2014 by more than £1.9 billion of investment in Britain’s roads, said Transport Minister Robert Goodwill announced.
The total investment in 209 schemes is £4.3 billion, £1.9 billion of which will be spent in 2014 alone – more than twice the amount spent in 2013.
The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) has recently outlined initiatives to the Minister for Energy & Business, Michael Fallon, that will improve fuel supply resilience and encourage investment in petrol forecourts at zero cost to the Treasury. More than 5000 sites (62 per cent of UK total) are still owned by independent businesses but numbers have been declining for many years.
In a recent speech Roads Minister Robert Goodwill indicated that the number of garages that reduce the MoT test fee influenced his decision to freeze the maximum charge until 2015.
He said, “Some of the decisions taken to reduce the cost of motoring this week have not been popular such as freezing the MOT fee. But I know that many test stations discount the fee. In fact only 12m of the vehicles on the road paid the full fee.”
Lobbyists are par for the course in US politics, and Goodyear’s senior registered lobbyist Isabel Jasinowski will retire in February 2014. The company has named her successor as head of its Washington, D.C. office as Brian Riley.
Motorists are set to benefit from a more effective road network and will have a greater say in how their roads operate. Turning the Highways Agency into a government-owned company will improve efficiency and reduce running costs, with taxpayers expected to benefit from savings of at least £2.6 billion over the next 10 years.
The announcement this week that the MoT testing fee will be frozen until 2015 has annoyed many in the motor trade, not least Stuart James of the RMIF’s Independent Garage Association. James said, “Whilst the RMI acknowledges the Government’s efforts to support the motorist it is outraged that it has failed to recognise the spiralling costs incurred by garages. The last official review of the MoT test price was in 2010.”
It invested 20 million euros there in 2012, and Michelin will continue investing in its Bad Kreuznach plant in Germany to improve its responsiveness to market demands. Plant manager Cyrille Beau told local newspaper the Rhein-Zeitung that the continued investment would cover several projects, including the conversion of a production line to 18-inch tyres. As of next year it will solely produce tyres in this rim diameter.
Natural rubber production in the region represented by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries – Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam – is expected to rise 3.0 per cent this year to 10.645 million tonnes.
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