MOT
Officers from Birmingham City Council’s Trading Standards have called for greater controls on tyre workshops in the city after some were reportedly found to be performing unsafe repairs. This demand was made following a free two-day training course, during which workshop staff failed to correctly repair more than half the punctures they were presented with.
Tecalemit Garage Equipment Co Ltd, a UK supplier of MoT and vehicle servicing equipment is set to launch its new range of heavy duty Pit Jacks for the HGV market.
The new SS 8708 Pit Jack is developed to feature a host of safety and operating features: the new model includes a ‘quick-stroke’ device which brings the lift pads rapidly up to the load point. It also benefits from a mechanical safety latching system and mechanically assisted descent. The 15,000 kg Pit Jack has a compact design, and provides a lifting stroke of 310mm.
After 37 years in the family business, Ray Darcy is handing over the reins to a non-family member. Ray Darcy has been with the company firstly on a part time basis, then as full time manager, since his parents set up North Eastern Tyre and Exhausts in 1971, and is now retiring from the position of Retail Director. Roger Griggs, who brings with him 27 years experience in the industry, takes up the role with immediate effect.
The company, originally known as Melbourne Tyre and Exhausts was based in Brotton but expanded quickly and today boasts 11 bases across the retail and warehouse sectors, across the entire North of England. Having run the Marske and Brotton outlets for 23 years, Ray then took over the entire retail operation and took up the reigns of chairman in 1997.
Klarius has reported that it has strengthened the range of services it offers with the introduction of a Fast Track Cat cell to its industry renowned development centre. The new five-strong team is reportedly able to rapidly develop high quality Catalytic Converters, built to On Board Diagnostic (OBD) compliance within a week, due to a range of well designed, bespoke production methods.
Klarius has been developing and manufacturing catalytic converters since 1993, but since last summer, the company has been overhauling its development processes in order to increase efficiency and productivity by introducing new equipment at its workshop and shortening production process lead-time. According to the company, the end result for its nationwide customer base, is the ability to add a new specification of catalytic converter, from client brief, to design and development, and finally production, ready for supply within a week from request.
Michelin and Kwik-Fit were among the companies who picked up awards at the 2008 Van Fleet World Honours ceremony, held at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, in mid May. These annual awards are presented to those companies, individuals and organisations that are judged to have achieved “the highest possible level of excellence” in the opinion of the judging panel – a panel made up industry professionals.
Van Fleet World editor John Kendall presented Michelin with the Environment Award for the tyre manufacturer’s latest Agilis van tyre, for light CVs between 2800 and 3500kg. He said that most drivers view their tyres as “round, black and not very interesting, but fitting the right tyre can have a notable impact on a fleet’s carbon footprint.”
First Stop dealership, Kingsway Tyres has re-opened its Spalding depot with a weekend of events following a major redevelopment. The refurbishment of the Spalding site marks the launch of Bridgestone UK’s ‘model stores’, which are seen as flagship outlets in the First Stop network. Kingsway Tyres invested a total of £200,000 in the refurbishment and extension of the Bourne Road site with a specific focus on providing an appealing environment for customers, including a new reception area and MOT office.
Alex Watson managing director of Kingsway Tyres commented: “We are delighted to unveil the results of the significant investment in the refurbishment and extension of our dealership and are looking forward to providing our customers with an even better experience for all their car and tyre needs. The opening weekend was a huge success and gave us a chance to showcase our re-developed store to new and existing customers.”
Peter Gaster confronted the issue of tyre ageing head-on in what is likely to be his last NTDA dinner as association chairman. The headline news is that, following negotiations between NTDA director Richard Edy and the RAC Foundation, the respected motoring organisation has pledged its full support for to an industry-wide tyre age check campaign.
Nottinghamshire Police has revealed worrying findings after carrying out spot checks on motorcycles on the county’s roads, reports TyreSafe. As part of Operation Retina, which aims to combat the number of motorcyclists killed on the county’s roads, more than half of all bikes randomly stopped over a one-week period during the road checks were found to have defects, including worn tyres.
This statistic mirrors data released by Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA), which indicated bike MOT failures had increased significantly – from 1,700 to 5,000 – between 2006 and 2007, and TyreSafe says this highlights the fact that riders are simply not looking after their machinery.
Maha UK is showing range of new products at April’s CV Show, including the company’s new ATL Analogue Brake Tester and Pneumatic Play Detectors for pit installations. New versions of the very successful Carlift series will also be on show. These lifts will be available for general service work and for ATL MOT bays. The Carlift will have the option of either pneumatic or hydraulic play detectors and various platform lengths and capacities.
Last year Kwik-Fit expanded its range of services through the introduction of MoT testing, and in September the company launched its new-look website. These two customer services have been combined to create a further customer-friendly offering – on March 6 Kwik-Fit announced that customers can now arrange their MoT inspections online through its kwik-fit.com website.
The addition of an online MoT booking facility means that customers now have a 24/7 means of arranging an MoT inspection at any one of the 250 Kwik-Fit centres in the UK offering this service, and the company anticipates its online booking service will be highly popular. Kwik-Fit expects a third of all MoT appointments to be booked this way in 2008. The cost of an online booked MoT inspection is £39.95, which Kwik-Fit points out is 20 per cent below the recommended Vosa price.
As reported previously, the line dividing company fleet vehicles and ‘private’ company vehicles is becoming harder to define in regards to vehicle maintenance. With so much emphasis being placed on care of duty and the impact this has upon drivers who use their own cars for work, it is unsurprising that when looking at the fast fit retail sector in 2008, one cannot escape also thinking in terms of fleet business. Kwik-Fit Fleet chief Mike Wise reports that many motorists who previously would have come under the retail umbrella are now, for legal reasons, being afforded the same vehicle service arrangements as those driving company vehicles.
“A number of customers that already have tyre safety checks undertaken by Kwik-Fit Fleet on their company cars already extend the offering to cover so-called ‘grey’ fleet vehicles because they understand that existing corporate health and safety legislation extends to cover all vehicles driven on business, irrespective of ownership,” comments Mr. Wise. “As a result, I expect Kwik-Fit Fleet to undertake an increasing number of tyre safety checks on ‘grey fleet’ vehicles as well as company-provided cars and vans.”
In total, the company’s mobile servicing fleet expects to perform more than a quarter of a million tyre safety checks at the customer’s premises, a little over 13.5 per cent more than the number carried out in 2007. “We expect checks to increase by at least 30,000 this year,” Wise says. While Kwik-Fit Fleet does not release month by month figures, he notes that this increase should be fairly uniform, however he does add: “Although, as more companies wake up to the importance of the new legislation and its impact on fleet safety we would expect tyre safety check demand to rise significantly in the second half of 2008.”
“In addition, numerous industry surveys highlight the ‘grey fleet’ as being an area of occupational road risk management weakness in the vast majority of companies,” Wise further comments. “Therefore, as more businesses start to react to the legislation and best practice advice and monitor issues around ‘grey fleet’ vehicles such as service schedules and MoTs I expect more work to be directed towards Kwik-Fit centres due to their accessibility and seven-day-a-week opening – something that franchise dealers cannot compete with.”
The head of Kwik-Fit Fleet gives the case of Crewe based mobile phone company 20:20 Mobile as an example of how many drivers not previously covered by fleet service agreements are now benefiting. Not only does the company’s fleet of 147 vehicles receive monthly safety checks, 20:20 Mobile assistant manager Andrea Shipman reports that steps are taken to ensure the on-road safety of all employees. “Employees who are not au fait with how to check tyres for pressure and wear and tear have nothing to worry about; and we ensure that qualified and fully trained technicians carry out the checks and any repair and replacement work. The company employs more than 1,050 people and tyre safety checks are part of the benefits package that is available to all staff as part of 20:20 Mobile’s suite of affinity programmes.”
Ms Shipman adds: “Safety of our drivers is paramount. The forthcoming corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act further underlines the importance of tyre safety checks.”
Kwik-Fit’s all makes fixed price menu has proven popular with retail customers since its introduction two years ago, however Mr. Wise reports that there has been concern from some quarters that undertaking servicing on the late model vehicles typically used for business purposes, including company fleet vehicles, could compromise manufacturer warranties. Kwik-Fit has acted to counter any such fears. “Our new manufacturers’ servicing initiative will enable technicians to download each vehicle manufacturer’s exact service schedule on a model-by-model basis. The cost of each service will be individually calculated by adding together ICME service time, hourly labour rates and spare part prices.
“Most retail customers drive cars that are more than three years old and therefore outside of the warranty cover offered by most carmakers,” Mr. Wise points out. “Vehicles are serviced using long-established service procedures and even if warranties are in place they are not impacted.”
Recently Kwik-Fit made a range of additional services available to both retail and fleet customers, services that – for the time being at least, round out the company’s fast-fit menu. “Last year Kwik-Fit Fleet completed its one-stop shop of motoring services with the roll-out of a new vehicle windscreen repair service,” says Wise. “The launch came on the back of adding air conditioning recharging, vehicle servicing and MoTs to our menu of services.”
With Kwik-Fit’s extended range of services now in place, the company intends to focus upon making itself more attractive to both retail and fleet customers. As Mike Wise says: “With regards to our 670-strong centre network and mobile fleet we will continue to roll-out our multi-million pound fast-fit centre modernisation and refurbishment programme and, earlier this year, we announced that we would add a further 30 units to our 200-strong mobile fleet in 2008 to cope with the boom in demand for tyre safety checks and mobile tyre repair and replacement.”
In closing, Mike Wise comments on what he believes sets Kwik-Fit apart from its customers. “Time is money,” he says. “Our seven-day-a-week opening and our ability to offer an MoT and service within typically 48 hours of booking rather than the 14 days of most franchised dealers makes our expansion into all SMR sectors very attractive…Additionally, it should be remembered that the whole ethos of fast-fit is a drive-in service, something which, in today’s 24/7 world, is significantly more customer-friendly than the rigid opening hours of franchised dealers.”
Although not given the sort of media attention reserved for terror threats or Britney’s latest escapade, a piece of legislation coming into effect on April 6 stands to affect the lives of many throughout the UK. Known as the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, it will lay a framework for pursuing convictions against organisations whose failure to manage their activities leads to a fatality. And what exactly, you may ask, does this Act change in relation to tyres? Come the second week of April and companies will be liable, and prosecutable, for any death resulting from an unsafe tyre (or any other part of the vehicle) during a journey undertaken for business purposes – even if the employee is driving their own private car.
These vehicles that make up the UK’s “grey fleet” – and it is thought that as many as a million employees use their own cars when travelling for business – have been described by many as a health and safety timebomb. According to a study conducted between June and August 2007 by the fleet management expert Arval, the emergence of this grey fleet during the past decade has been driven by a move towards the provision of more flexible employee benefits; the day of the company car as the standard non-cash incentive has passed into workplace history. But while seen as a win-win situation by many employers and employees, those that opt out of a company car scheme because they only travel for work sporadically are, when the need to travel does arise, obliged to do so in a vehicle perhaps not maintained to the same standard as one from a corporate fleet.
Arval found more than 37 per cent of companies reported clocking up at least 10 per cent of their business mileage was in grey fleet vehicles; 13.4 per cent said that more than 26 per cent of business miles could be attributed to this so-called grey fleet. These figures are worrying, as the majority of employers surveyed had little policy in place to make sure the vehicles used were up to the job. Few requested that drivers produce a MOT certificate for vehicles more than three years old – only 26 per cent requested this as a matter of course, and this figure drops to around 20 per cent for those operating fleets of fewer than 50 vehicles. Almost three-quarters of employers placed no age restriction upon private vehicles used for company business and, perhaps most worryingly, some 52.8 per cent had no procedure in place for checking that grey fleet vehicles carried appropriate insurance cover.
This suggests, comments Arval, that “the offer of cash, which is likely to be used for a vehicle purchase, does endenger some feelings of responsibility on the part of employers.” However a sense of having passed on all responsibility together with the cash is an attitude that bears little weight against the upcoming Act, which builds upon current legislation. Under the existing Health and Safety at Work Act, driving for work is classified as a business activity, therefore the vehicle is viewed as a place of work and must meet the same risk management criteria. “Work-related road safety can only be effectively managed if it is integrated into your arrangements for managing health and safety at work,” states the Health & Safety Executive in a document targeted at employers. “You should look at your health and safety systems and consider whether they adequately cover this area of work.”
This should be familiar territory for most employers. But while current health and safety policy has been in place for more than 30 years, the new Act, with its creation of the offence known as corporate manslaughter (corporate homicide in Scotland), sharpens the legal teeth of those wishing to bite companies failing in their responsibility to maintain a safe workplace.
When accidents do occur, the issue of who is ultimately responsible is looked at much more closely now than in past times, not only in terms of legal liability. With business drivers experiencing collision rates some 30 to 40 per cent higher than private drivers, the long arm of the law is already a firm believer in the new legislation. According to Metropolitan Police superintendent Mark Bird, businesses “must face up to their duty of care responsibilities and realise that they are responsible for the welfare of their employees when on the road for business purposes, whether they are driving a company car or not.”
“Just as employers would make sure that employees are safe in the workplace, so they should while they are on the road,” he added. “In the event of a collision or injury, the police take seriously all the reasons that have led to it happening including the condition of the vehicle and why the driver was on the road, including if they were travelling for business reasons. More and more we carry out follow up investigations with companies after collisions to ensure that work-related road safety is embedded within company policies.”
The exact penalties organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter will face have yet to be decided upon. However, a consultation document produced by the Sentencing Advisory Panel recommends punishment should take the form of publicity orders and fines of between 2.5 and 10 per cent of the organisation’s average annual turnover. And even considering the financial impact of a penalty at the upper end of this limit, representatives from the business lobby group The Confederation of British Industry appear to believe the Act is a necessary measure. “It is clear that the message (that) work-related driving is a health and safety issue for employers, regardless of vehicle ownership, is not getting through fast enough,” commented the organisation’s head of health and safety, Janet Asherson.
The silver lining in all this talk of increased responsibility and penalties for non-compliance comes mainly for those in the vehicle maintenance and servicing business. While no figures exist to indicate the added value the Act’s introduction will inject into the UK fast fit market, at least two retail chains, Kwik Fit and Nationwide Autocentres, report making preparations for a greater influx of business come April; further details can be found in this section.
Defective tyres are now the fourth most common reason why motorcycles fail MOT tests in the UK. Statistics released by the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) also indicate that bike maintenance standards are on the decline.
The report showed that between 2006 and 2007, close to 5,000 bikes failed their annual MOT due to being fitted with tyres that were not fit for purpose, compared to nearly 1,700 the year before. This equates to a jump of 66 per cent. Cars and light vans did not fair particularly better during the same period, recording a 54 per cent rise in tyre related MOT failures.
Kwik-Fit Fleet has extended its business partnership with leasing and fleet management company Fleet Hire into a fifth year with the signing of a new 12-month solus preferred agreement. The Solihull-based company operates a fleet of almost 6,000 vehicles and now uses Kwik-Fit Fleet for the supply of virtually all fast-fit related services, from traditional tyre repair and replacement utilising Kwik-Fit’s High Street centre network and 200 Mobile units to brake, exhaust and battery services.
April’s Duty of Care law is looming ever closer and time is short for companies to ensure vehicles used for business purposes provide no grounds for the new regulations to be breached. It is expected that businesses will take a keener interest in the verifiable and regular servicing of cars used for work related journeys come April, and to accommodate this anticipated higher demand, independent vehicle servicing and MOT testing chain Nationwide Autocentres has launched a 19 point ‘Duty of Care’ inspection service.
Alarmingly, reports Nationwide, a study released in January found that 60 per cent of privately owned vehicles used for company business were not safe to be on the road. In addition, 52 per cent of companies do not operate a policy of confirming the insurance details of these vehicles, which have in recent times become known as the “grey” fleet. Such an oversight will become a potentially costly one for companies; those failing to implement a Duty of Care process to ensure grey fleet vehicles are fit for purpose could be liable for prosecution should one be involved in a fatal road traffic accident.
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