News reports from Geneva say that the World Trade Organization will now launch a formal investigation into the Obama Administration’s imposition of a three-year added tariff on imported China-made consumer tyres. The first meeting in the investigation is supposed to occur on January 19, according to reports. Reports say that it could take as long as a year for the case to be resolved.
In the US, Toyota is recalling 110,000 Tundra trucks from the 2000-2003 model years following a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into complaints of excessive rust in the frame of this particular model. The specific problem relates to the frame rusting to the extent that the spare tyre could fall onto the road, creating a danger for other vehicles.
In an effort to thwart ongoing tyre thefts, the Genesee County (Michigan) Road Commission has resorted to branding every tyre it buys for its vehicle fleet, reports Tire Review. The branding effort is apparently part of strategy officials say are being made to prevent future thefts of tyres and other equipment, according to the Flint Journal. Last week Road Commission chairman David Miller and vice chairman James Pomeroy told the county Board of Commissioners about seven policy changes, including the serial number branding plan, but have still yet to discuss the scope of internal thefts at the road agency or how the thefts occurred. In late October, the Road Commission suspended one employee without pay and turned an internal investigation of tyre thefts over to the Michigan State Police.
(Tire Review) Bridgestone Americas is disputing Liberian government claims that its Firestone rubber plantation is causing pollution in nearby creeks. Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency closed out a lengthy investigation, finding high levels of orthophosphate being released into the water in creeks near the company’s natural rubber plantation and processing enter in Monrovia.
OM Recycling’s tyre recycling depot in Mayobridge, County Down, Northern Ireland is facing an investigation by the Environmental Crime Unit following residents’ complaints. OM Recycling has around 400,000 tyres stockpiled at the facility, some of which are stored outside the company’s licensed area, say BBC news reports. The Environment minister Edwin Poots told Auntie of the “significant risk to human health and the environment” posed by the tyre pile, while SDLP councillor Josephine O’Hare said she was aghast at the quantities of tyres, though “nobody wants to stop anybody doing their business”. OM Recycling responded that it is co-operating with the Environment Agency and that it is committed to resolving issues at its “secure” site.
A 16-year old boy has been arrested on suspicion of arson following a blaze that destroyed a tyre business in Stockport. The fire at AL Tyres, in Sheffield Street, Heaton Norris was lit some time shortly after 8pm on the evening of October 12, and during the course of the evening around 60 firefighters were engaged in containing and extinguishing the blaze.
The tyre fire that has been burning since Sunday at a site in Londonderry where tyres were being stored illegally has finally been extinguished. Firefighters arriving to tackle the blaze on Sunday night found four separate fires across the one-acre site at Eglinton. The fire service said tackling the blaze had been a "mammoth task" and the cost of the operation is expected to run into tens of thousands of pounds.
The BBC has followed up its investigation into tyre dumping scams in North Wales on the Radio 4 consumer affairs programme, You and Yours including a statement from the secretary general of the Tyre Recovery Association, Peter Taylor. The segment was broadcast on 23 September and can be heard on Auntie’s splendid iPlayer, using the link at the bottom of the page (segment begins at circa 45 minutes).
Renault’s Formula One team has been given a suspended ban from the sport for its role in the race-fixing scandal at the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. The team’s former head, Flavio Briatore has been banned from all FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, while Pat Symonds, the former engineering director also implicated by ex-driver Nelson Piquet Jr., was handed a five-year exclusion. Piquet has avoided censure as a result of his whistle-blowing activity, while Fernando Alonso, Renault’s lead driver who won the race in question largely thanks to the ersatz accident, was cleared of any involvement and thanked by the FIA for “cooperating with enquiries”.
Managers of around 30 Kwik-Fit depots have been suspended and are being investigated over claims they manipulated figures in order increase their bonuses. According to a report in The Sun, most of the 30 depots affected are in Scotland, however a Kwik-Fit spokesperson told Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com that the inquiry covers branches across the UK.
Kwik-Fit's press representatives sought to downplay the newspaper reports, pointing out that while staff have been suspended there is not yet any evidence of wrongdoing. Managers are no-doubt seeking to avoid the kind of attention attracted by The Sun's news story which ran under a headline mocking the company's famous tag-line – “You can’t nick quicker than a Kwik-Fit fiddler.”
Fire crews have been tackling flames, thick smoke and fumes and piles of burning material at the premises of Kingpin Tyre in Wem, Shropshire, since Tuesday. Firefighters said several mounds of “waste rubber,” covering an area of around 60 metres had caught fire. A report in the Whitchurch Herald said that plumes of black smoke could be seen up to 20 miles away as 200 tonnes of rubber went up in smoke and that firefighters expect to battle the blaze and control smouldering material for the best part of a week.
People in Londonderry were being warned to stay inside and shut doors and windows as a precaution against a plume of smoke from a tyre fire in the area. 10,000 tyres were alight at premises on the Pennyburn Industrial Estate and light wind conditions meant that the smoke was not being dispersed. 41 firefighters were […]
He’s a judge – but when it comes to tyres, he also stands in as jury and executioner. An astounding number of US news sources, including the Washington Post and the NBC network, have picked up on the tale of Charles County, Maryland jurist Robert Nalley. The circuit judge has admitted deflating the tyre of a car parked near his courthouse. One newspaper, the Daily Record, reports that Nalley went to work on the tyre’s valve because he claimed “notes on the windshield did not work.”
Fancy a promising career in the tyre world without the hassle of buckling down at your studies? Don’t fret, where there’s a will, there’s a way. But before you decide to embark on a “fake it till you make it” approach to your newly chosen profession, consider the tale of two hopeful tyre industry specialists in India.
The Serious Fraud Office has been asked to consider whether there should be a criminal investigation into the collapse of MG Rover, after an inquiry into the demise of the MG Rover Group on in April 2005 owing creditors nearly £1.3 billion.
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