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NTDA to Implement "Major Changes"

Following the National Tyre Distributors’ Association’s (NTDA) annual general meeting yesterday (18 May 2010), the association has agreed to a number of major changes to its organisational and representational structure. The changes follow a review conducted by former chairman Peter Gaster during the last year, which found that a modified structure would better represent regional membership and that the association would benefit from better engagement with its suppliers.

So what has changed? According to the latest NTDA e-zine, the AGM accepted a change to the rules to completely revise the regional representation of its executive council. NTDA members will shortly receive a regionalised nomination form as “a prelude to a voting procedure to elect regional representatives from all eight regions.” The new approach will expand regional representation on the council and provide an on-going link with the smaller companies in membership. Nominations will only be accepted from companies who do not already have a right to a seat on council through their size.

19th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

TRA: 2010 Forum Day Bigger and Better

The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has announced that its 2010 Forum Day will take place on Friday 9 July at the St John’s Hotel, Solihull. According to the association, this year’s event adds a morning workshop dedicated to introducing tyre retailers to the opportunities offered by the industry’s Responsible Recycler Scheme. The workshop precedes the established programme which will follow in the afternoon and the TRA will this year organise its own Tyre Industry Dinner and cabaret for the evening.

15th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Tom Griffiths Dies

Tom Griffiths, managing director of TG Tyre Supplies Ltd in Stevenage, has passed away suddenly on Sunday 4 April, two weeks after his 59th birthday. According to the NTDA website, which reported news of his passing and conveyed the association’s condolences, Tom Griffiths was a founder member of the NTDA's Tyre Wholesalers Group and will be “sadly missed by his many friends and colleagues throughout the Tyre Industry.”

12th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Question of the Month Focuses on “Green Fee” Debate

Tyrepress.com is carrying a new Question of the Month on the homepage, dealing with one of the most controversial issues of the day: the size of the current “green fee” charged by retailers to pay for the costs of disposing of old tyres. At the nub of the issue is that collectors and recyclers believe a larger part of the green fee should be coming there way. While certain sources have pointed an accusative finger at tyre retailers, suggesting that they may be profiteering from the current fee charged to customers at the expense of tyre recovery companies, the National Tyre Distributors Association defended the position of its members by suggesting that overheads such as tyre storage costs had been underestimated in this argument. Tyrepress.com asks readers if the current Green Fee – estimated to be around £1.50 – the right price. Have your say in the debate by clicking your chosen answer and adding your comments to the forum, accessed in the top right hand corner of the homepage.

6th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

NTDA Defends Retailer “Green Fee”

With talk of a tyre collection and recycling “crisis” in the air and with some sources pointing the finger at the retail business, the NTDA has responded by defending the so-called green fee charged by distributors. The association, which represents tyre retails and distributors, also released new survey results pointing to a slight decline in the incidence of tyre fly tipping.

In answer to accusations that some in the retail trade are profiteering from the green fee (widely accepted to be around £1.50/tyre), the recent NTDA e-zine pointed out that the process can be more costly than retailers are given credit for. Summarising the accusation against retailers and then countering it, the association wrote: “The retailer charges the motorist £1 (or maybe more) as an environmental/disposal charge. He then pays his collector 50p – ergo, he is making 50p profit. QED. Except that he isn't. If the tyre were to be removed and left where it was until the collector came and picked it up, there would be some truth in this, but if the retailer is to comply with legislation, things are a bit more complicated – and costly.”

1st April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

NTDA: Part Worn Tyre Sales Increase

Sales of “potentially lethal” part worn tyres are on the increase, according to a National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) survey. The report follows earlier research conducted by TyreSafe, tyre industry’s safety body, which said part worn tyres "pose a significant safety hazard to drivers and other road users." The consensus remains that there are around 2 million part worn tyres sold in the UK passenger car replacement tyre market each year.

The 2010 survey reveals that most NTDA members are reporting an increase in the sales of part worn tyres in their area (65%), with the remaining 35 per cent describing the market as 'static'. Only 6 per cent of respondents said that there were no part worn dealers in their vicinity, while 71 per cent said that there were between one and 10 dealers in their area.

29th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

EDIWheel Seminar Paves The Way for E-Business Protocol

In December, around 70 members from the tyre industry gathered together at Coventry to attend a seminar, organised by the TIF. The seminar had only one subject – EDIWheel, or Electronic Data Interchange Wheel.

The 70 delegates represented a true cross-section of the industry and, in his introduction, David White of Kwik-Fit, said that 21 per cent of the audience were from the e-commerce sector, 20 per cent were wholesalers, 37 per cent manufacturers, 10 per cent from trade associations and 14 per cent were tyre dealers.

5th January 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

TWG Chair: Tyre Wholesalers Again Show Recession Resilience

As a man of 40 experience in the tyre trade – and with it the knowledge of three recessions – Tyre Wholesalers Group chair Ashley Croft is in a good position to comment on the effects of the current financial crisis (which, depending on whose opinion you are heeding, may or may not have come to an end). In his speech at the 2009 TWG Annual Lunch, Croft described the past year as a “harsh period”, but made clear that the recession had hit hardest in the tyre business where manufacturers were most committed to supplying original equipment. However, he stated, “replacement market traders have once again proved themselves to be relatively recession-proof”.

9th December 2009/by Chris

Premium Tyre Message Must Permeate Supply Chain: Rickard

In what Tyre Wholesalers Group chair, Ashley Croft called, “a clear challenge to the tyre industry”, Jim Rickard – managing director of Michelin Tyre plc – called on the members of the TWG to match the “sophistication…of the manufacturers within the whole supply chain”. Speaking at the Group’s Annual Lunch in Droitwich Spa, Rickard expressed uncertainty about the way information about tyres is transmitted to customers: “I’m not sure the message about performance characteristics gets through at the point of sale.” He argued that new legislation – exemplified by forthcoming tyre labelling laws governing noise, wet grip etc – was making visible to the consumer proof of a tyre’s superior characteristics over rival brands, thus allowing components of the supply chain to justify to customers the relative cost of one product to another.

9th December 2009/by Chris

Brityrex 2010 Offering Chinese Manufacturers a Door to UK Market

The introduction of tariffs and other protective measures in the US has to an extent closed the door to affordable Chinese tyres there, and this is good news to European consumers with an interest in value for money. Many Chinese companies have identified this opportunity to further develop their businesses in our region, and a number of them have turned to Brityrex 2010 as a platform from which they can effectively do so. Exhibition organiser ECI International reports, as of mid-November, having taken no less than 25 stand bookings from Chinese suppliers, with the prospect of more to follow.

17th November 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Pro-Align Offers Specialist Alignment Lift

The emergence this year of the FS40LT four post alignment lift, distributed exclusively by Pro-Align, has reportedly created “a wave of interest in the UK market.” Fresh from winning the NTDA innovation prize for its Hunter SmartWeight system at this year’s TAFF awards, Pro-Align are now offering what the company calls specialist alignment lifts.

“The FS40LT has been developed by Provac, Hunter’s distributor in France,” Pro-Align’s Paul Beaurain explains: “Utilising years of alignment experience, they have brought together the best features to make an extremely high specification ramp, providing…the ultimate alignment service, at a price that’s no more expensive than a standard four post alignment lift.”

30th October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

HSE Updates Health & Safety Advice for Tyre Fitters

Almost 20 years after it published the last “blue book” giving advice on how to comply with health and safety guidelines, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has released updated details. And what’s more “Health and Safety in Motor Vehicle Repair and Associated Industries” can be downloaded for free from the HSE website.

Apart from the Vauxhall Cavalier no longer being the nation’s favourite car, much has changed since the early nineties – the introduction of air conditioning, hybrid vehicles; and Small and Medium Area Repair Techniques (SMART) are just a few of the general changes motor vehicle repair industry. Tyre fitters specifically have the extra challenges of run-flats and increasingly large and low profile tyres to keep them occupied. As beneficial as these developments have been to the look and performance of our vehicles, the HSE points out each that of these technologies has also brought new health and safety challenges in an industry already dealing with many serious issues. In the last five years alone there have been over 8000 injuries and 25 deaths in the MVR sector.

23rd October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

NTDA – Over 80 Years and Still Going Strong

Beginning by quipping that he didn’t mean to lie at last year’s event when he said the 2008 dinner was to be his last, NTDA chairman Peter Gaster opened this year’s chairman’s speech by explaining that the his chairmanship has been extended while he completes a review of NTDA’s future. Kwik-Fit’s David White, who will succeed Gaster as chairman, is set to take over when the select group of NTDA members has been consulting with have completed their recommendations.

The current chairman was keen to point out the association’s history and strengths: “Our association has been in existence for over 80 years and, in tyre industry terms, is the oldest surviving association and is still going strong! The main themes of any proposed changes are based upon the strength and weakness or pros and cons of our association.”

This was a reference to the association’s recent moves to resist “integration with other organisations.” However, “we would view any trade association that wanted to affiliate or even join the NTDA with an open mind and on its merit,” he added. This means that NTDA will maintain its office in Aylesbury with the ongoing support of its director and staff for the “foreseeable future.”

1st October 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Wins 2 TAFF Awards at 80th NTDA Dinner

Continental Tyre Group won Tyre Manufacturer of the Year and the Industry Advertiser’s award at 2009 Tyre And Fast Fit (TAFF) Awards last night. The TAFF Awards ceremony, which formed part of the NTDA’s 80th annual dinner at the Manchester Deansgate Hilton also saw leading UK wholesaler BITS extend its tally to nine Wholesaler of the Year Awards.

Accepting the company’s Manufacturer of the Year award, Continental Tyre Group managing director, David Smith told Tyres & Accessories: “We are delighted that our work and efforts have been recognised by the industry. I am particularly proud of my team who work hard to push standards forward and make us the leading brand in the industry.”

24th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

TIF ‘Question Time’ Prefaces NTDA Dinner and TAFF Awards

The TIF’s first Seminar, including representatives from every section of the UK tyre industry, is taking place today, as Tyrepress.com posts this very story. Present on the panel, which will be taking questions from the floor, for the event will be:

23rd September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors