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Kerr’s Tyres buys MW Tyres & Exhausts

International News, UK News

Northern Ireland-based Kerr’s Tyres Group has bought MW Tyres & Exhausts for an undisclosed sum. MW Tyres & Exhausts has been rebranded as MW Tyres & Auto and will now offer the 24/7 365 UK & Ireland coverage offered by Kerr’s Tyres Group. As a result of the acquisition, Kerrs Group now operates from 12 sites in Northern Ireland and four sites in the Greater Dublin region. Look out for our May edition to see how this affects Kerr’s Tyres’ position in our annual tyre retail ranking.

19th April 2021/by Chris

Northern Ireland car dealers facing steep price increase

Legislation, UK News

Over the past weeks, the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has written to HMRC and a number of MPs to highlight that under post-Brexit EU VAT rules, the sale price of a significant proportion of used vehicles in Northern Ireland (NI) will be subject to a 20 per cent increase for stock purchased in Great Britain (GB). NFDA has urged HMRC to resolve the issue before the end of the year to avoid a major impact on NI and GB vehicle dealers as well as consumers.

20th November 2020/by Peter Gardner

Kerr’s Tyres buys Roundabout Tyre & Battery Service

Kerr’s Tyre’s & Auto has acquired Belfast-based Roundabout Tyre & Battery Service. Roundabout Tyre & Battery Service have been operating from Belfast’s outer ring for 31 years. No price details have been released.

3rd November 2020/by Chris

Ecobat gains NI presence through Easystart acquisition

Following its purchase of Easystart Ireland last month, Ecobat Battery Technologies (Ecobat) is opening a new branch in Northern Ireland. The branch is located in Crumlin, Co Antrim and will be headed by Colin Watterson, managing director of Easystart since its founding in 2016 and a 20-year battery industry veteran. He will be joined by two Easystart colleagues, Jim Brennan and David McNeill.

4th September 2020/by Stephen

Davanti Tyres sponsors Larne FC

Davanti tyres will be Larne FC’s sleeve sponsor for the 2020/21 campaign as the Irish Premiership side set their sights on qualifying for Europe. It is Davanti’s first major sports sponsorship in Northern Ireland.

3rd September 2020/by Chris

MPs demand £3 billion UK bus investment

A cross-party group of MPs with bus manufacturing sites within their constituencies have written to the Prime Minister to demand the £3 billion he committed in February to fund investment in “at least 4,000 new zero emissions buses” is brought forward as soon as possible.

21st July 2020/by Chris

Sensata cutting 160 jobs in Northern Ireland

Career Tracks, UK News

TPMS sensor manufacturer Sensata Technologies is cutting 160 jobs in the town of Antrim, Northern Ireland. The news follows Sensata’s decision to close its Carrickfergus, County Antrim operation in January 2020. And this was part of a downward trend that saw the company cut 125 jobs in Carrickfergus in 2018.

2nd July 2020/by Chris

Tyre labelling legislation: New and old labels will co-exist

Legislation, UK News

Following reports at the end of June that the UK government is consulting on current and forthcoming tyre legislation, it is worth taking a closer look and clarifying exactly what rules are passing through the labyrinths of legislative bureaucracy. In short, there are three strands of UK tyre legislation on the table at the moment: minimum standards legislation; current tyre labelling legislation; and forthcoming tyre labelling legislation. Taken together they will likely bring with them the largely unannounced consequence of having both old and new tyre labels in the market at the same time, for a while at least.

25th June 2020/by Chris

Kerr’s Tyres secures £500k funding from Ulster Bank

Kerr’s Tyres & Auto, one of Northern Ireland’s leading suppliers of tyres and automotive services, has secured a half-million pound loan from Ulster Bank to support it through the coronavirus crisis. It has been delivered through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

29th May 2020/by Chris

First Michelin Tweel delivered in Northern Ireland

International News, Product News, UK News

A farmer in Northern Ireland has become the first person in Northern Ireland to put Michelin’s X Tweel SSL airless tyre and wheel combination into operation. Michelin has offered its range of Tweel products for grass mowing, agricultural and industrial applications in North America for several years, but its fitment for skid-steer loaders is the first Tweel product to arrive this side of the Atlantic.

18th May 2020/by Chris

MOT exemptions extended to a year in Northern Ireland

Drivers in Northern Ireland whose MOTs are due during the pandemic shutdown will enjoy a one-year exemption, a Stormont minister said. It would not be possible to accommodate the backlog as well as conduct normal business at testing centres, infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon said. Drivers will instead apply for MOTs as normal next year. The announcement caps a year of turmoil for MOT testers in the region. In January, all tests were suspended due to faults with vehicle lifts used in MOT centres. Anti-Coronavirus lockdown measures had already led to further extensions for the MOT exemption.

13th May 2020/by Andrew

50,000 MOT tests cancelled in Northern Ireland

At least 50,000 MOT tests have been cancelled in Northern Ireland since testing ground to a halt a month ago. The Northern Ireland MOT process was thrown in crisis on 21 January after cracks were found on lifts at many test centres owing to the fact that all MOTs are run by the DVA, a Northern Ireland government agency, which had bulk bought the same model of lift for all its centres.

25th February 2020/by Chris

Northern Irish MOT lifts different to UK models

International News, Legislation, UK News

In addition to the news that the Maha Duo+1 scissor lift if the model behind the Northern Ireland MOT crisis, GEA chief executive Julian Woods has pointed out that these Irish lifts are different to UK equivalents: “Vehicle lifts used for performing MOT tests in Ireland are of a different design/specification to those required in the UK MOT market and as such we cannot compare the situations.”

10th February 2020/by Chris

Maha DUO+1 behind Northern Ireland MOT problems

International News, UK News

Maha Ireland has confirmed that its Maha DUO+1 scissor lift is behind the Northern Ireland MOT crisis. The lift, which has been supplied to DVA centres across Northern Ireland and is also believed to have been supplied to NCT centres in the Republic of Ireland, suffering from cracking which resulted in the suspension of all car MOTS in Northern Ireland on 27 January 2020.

10th February 2020/by Chris

NI MOT Crisis: 3 more lifts operational

Three more vehicle lifts became operational at Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA) test centres in Northern Ireland on 31 January as work continued to restore normal operations. Together with the two lifts that went into operation on 29 January as well as roughly 15 per cent that were not affected by the severe cracking reported across 85 per cent of the DVA network, this means that the Northern Irish MOT process is now running at between 15 and 25 per cent of normally capacity more than a week after all MOTs in Northern Ireland were suspended on safety grounds on 27 January 2020. Therefore, it is still likely to take months before the process is back at full speed.

4th February 2020/by Chris