The NTDA has announced that former champion rally driver, and well-known TV presenter, Penny Mallory is to close this year’s Tyre Industry Conference, to be held at the Vox Conference Centre, Birmingham on 6 October.
At the end of February Tyres & Accessories attended the NTDA’s North West region meeting. For years the National Tyre Distributors Association kept in touch with the grass roots of the industry via a regional structure. This dissipated and virtually evaporated in recent decades, but not in the North West where it has continued to be strong – representing the local needs of the association and working together for the common good of tyre distributors as part of the national NTDA organisation. Latterly, the NTDA has experienced something of a resurgence of the regional approach with other regions being re-invigorated (prior to the North West meeting, the South East and Central South regions met in Watford on 10 February).
The UK Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) and National Measurement and Regulation Office (NMRO) are merging into a single Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) directorate from 1 April 2016. The goal of the new entity, which will be known as “Regulatory Delivery”, will be to focus on regulation and enforcement. This in turn is likely to impact the way legislation such European Tyre Labelling is monitored and enforced.
BEN, the automotive industry benevolence charity, is to close the Alexandra House care home in Southport. The closure is said to be due to the relative incompatibility of the building with the increasing frailty of residents and the infeasibility of improvements. The news was met with disappointment from sections of the tyre industry especially NTDA members in the North West, who have been particularly supportive of Alexandra House for decades. No decisions have yet been made about whether or not BEN will establise a replacement care home located in the North West or not.
A recent independent study commissioned by HiQ suggests UK roads face a growing danger young drivers happy to purchase part worn tyres.
The study, by Advantage Research and Innovation, surveyed more than 4000 UK car drivers who had purchased tyres in the past 12 months to October 2015, aged from 17 to 84. The research showed an increased acceptance of used or part worn tyres as a safe and cost-effective option among respondents aged between 17 and 34, in contrast to the older age groups, where the vast majority would not consider driving on used or part worn tyres.
At least three NTDA members have come across a credit card scam and are warning others in the tyre industry about it.
In one instance of potential fraudulent credit card activity an NTDA member based in Preston received a phone call from a “Mr Khan” claiming to be based in Manchester. The caller stated that he wanted to purchase 30 tyres on his credit card and that he couldn’t collect in person and would be sending a courier to collect them. The member declined and said that he would only agree to the purchase if “Mr Khan” came in person and paid for the tyres using chip and pin with his card.
The NTDA has the sponsors of this year’s Tyre Industry Conference as well as the Annual Dinner and Awards that follow it. The 2nd NTDA Tyre Industry Conference, 87th Annual Dinner will be held at the Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham on Thursday 6 October 2016. Confirmed sponsors for 2016 include: Goodyear Dunlop Tyres, Maritime Cargo Services, Pirelli Tyres, Tyrexpo series organiser SingEx, Zenises and Ztyre.com.
2015 marks the end of the era. I am not referring to the departure of any key executives, although there have been those. Neither I am talking about the mergers and acquisitions that have taken place – and there have been those too. Rather, I am referring to the fact that November 2015 marked the last time that the NTDA Tyre Wholesaler’s Group (TWG) are gathering for a standalone meeting and annual dinner in November. Instead, as chairman John Parker explained in his speech, the event will be reformatted and move to the day before the NTDA annual conference and Tyre Industry Awards in order to facilitate a more efficient use of everyone’s times and travelling abilities. In addition to updating members and guests on the latest developments from within the TWG, Tyres & Accessories was present to hear Parker give a wholesales-eye-view summary of what has been happening in the market, with part worn tyres and within the wider NTDA.
Receiving the TIA for Tyre and Aftermarket Supplier of the Year at the 86th NTDA Annual Dinner for the second consecutive year, Rema Tip Top Automotive UK stated that it was “incredibly honoured” to have secured the vote by an independent industry panel.
NTDA national chairman Roger Griggs used his speech at the 86th NTDA Annual Dinner to echo many of the sentiments expressed at the Tyre Industry Conference, calling especially for unified voices in tackling industry-wide issues. Encompassing cheap imported products, the under-regulated part-worn tyre market, MOTs and road safety, and the importance of attracting young talent to the industry, Griggs’ speech outlined the evolution of the NTDA’s position over the past year and, most crucially the work it is doing in attempting to bring together a variety of disparate voices. Reinforcing the association’s “growth and renewed energy,” according to Griggs, the dinner was the “biggest… in recent decades, with 620 guests in attendance,” indicating the “value…we all place on spending time together as an industry.
After a decade-long hiatus, the National Tyre Distributor Association (NTDA) resurrected the concept of having an annual tyre industry conference, with a new location and new format at the start of October. The new conference sees the association position its gathering as an industry-wide professional event alongside the NTDA dinner. The decision to re-launch the conference comes at a time when the NTDA dinner has itself evolved significantly – this year some 600 people attended (see complete coverage in the preceding section of this issue). But the most noticeable thing was the concerted effort, especially on the part of various industry associations participating, to present a united front. By doing this they showed that the associations are now more interested in highlighting where they stand together as opposed to where they differ.
Joint recipient of the Tyre Industry Awards’ REACT Roadside Technician of the Year, ATS Euromaster’s Michael Vasey works at the network’s Aberdeen centre predominantly as a mobile technician in one of ATS Euromaster’s more than 820 service vans. The 29-year-old holds City and Guilds qualifications in every aspect of tyre fitting and roadside breakdown, from car and van to heavy industrial vehicles, including experience working airside at Aberdeen International Airport.
Bridgestone’s double victory at the NTDA Awards 2015 was labelled a “significant breakthrough for the business.” The world’s largest tyre manufacturer won both the Tyre Manufacturer of the Year and the Industry Marketing Campaign of the Year awards, presented at the Annual Dinner in early October. Bridgestone added that the awards pay “tribute to the giant strides made by its senior management team over the past 12 months.”
Merityre Specialists Limited, Sunbury on Thames said that its status as Tyre Retail Centre of the Year, presented to the company at the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) annual awards, was reward for its hard work. The centre also stated that the support it receives as a Pirelli Performance Centre (PPC) has helped it to achieve its high standards.
The NTDA directorate team and executive officers of the association have expressed their sadness at the death of Gwyn Jenkins, who died on Friday 23 October 2015 aged 84, following a short illness.
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