The National Tyre Distributors’ Association (NTDA) its launching its manifesto for raising standards and improving safety in the UK tyre industry at the association’s conference on Thursday 12 October. The NTDA’s manifesto tackles the key issues facing manufacturers, distributors, motorists and other important stakeholders and outlines a plan of action for the NTDA and its members.
At the start of August the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) started an online petition calling for a complete ban on the sale of part-worn tyres. The move follows inspections carried out over several years into the sale of part-worn tyres, which show serious safety breaches are common.
An anti part worn tyre bill that was passed in May has been vetoed by state governor Greg Abbot. Texas House Bill 2774 was based on the draft legislation advocated by the US Tire Manufacturers Association. It would have levied fines of $100 to $500 for each tyre deemed unsafe.
TyreSafe has continued to raise awareness of the potential dangers of buying part worn tyres and encourage drivers to consider only buying new with joint activities with Trading Standards as well as in the media. This was most recently exemplified by a recent inspection carried out with Durham Trading Standards and the Sunday Mirror. The coverage was shared with the paper’s daily sister publication The Daily Mirror.
The National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) has endorsed sidewall drilling in a bid to re move end of life tyres from the retail supply chain. Following its executive council meeting on 9 November 2016, the NTDA stated:
Ever since her 18 year old son Michael was killed in a coach crash on the A3 in Surrey in September 2012. Liverpool-based Frances Molloy has spent the past four years campaigning for legislation to be passed on the condition and age of tyres. The accident was caused by the explosion of a tyre that was found to be second hand and 19 and a half years old.
A Florida jury has ruled unanimously in favour of Michelin North America, Inc., in a high-profile product liability case that included claims filed by three plaintiffs who were involved in a 2009 rollover accident. The crash resulted in catastrophic brain injuries to two minor passengers, ages 14 and 16, and injuries to an adult. In their closing arguments, the plaintiffs’ lawyers asked the jury to award the victims more than $80 million in damages.
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.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has published new part worn tyre safety guidelines designed to give consumers confidence “that the part worn tyres they are buying are safe and roadworthy, not dangerous and illegal”.
According to the TRA, the new guidelines are being introduced to improve standards, share good practice and improve road safety across the UK and follow research suggesting 98 per cent of part worns sold don’t comply with current legislation.
The BBC’s Fake Britain covered the dangers associated with buying part worn tyres on 1 December. Made with the support of Trading Standards and TyreSafe, the programme featured Georgina Gee, whose family car was fitted with four unroadworthy tyres by a part worn dealer.
The Fake Britain episode also showed the poor handling characteristics of non-compliant used tyres demonstrated on a test track and tyre assessments by TyreSafe’s tyre expert. It also gave a glimpse behind-the-scenes of a Trading Standards operation.
TyreSafe has launched partworn-tyres.co.uk, a website detailing “the dangers, real cost and legal regulations on the sale of part worn tyres”. Visitors to partworn-tyres.co.uk will find examples of tyres offered for sale by unscrupulous dealers and discovered during such investigations. The description of the sometimes horrifying faults includes tyres which would have been likely to suffer catastrophic failure on fitment, while unsafe repairs, cuts and objects in the tread are also revealed.
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.
Lincolnshire part worn tyre retailer Luke McKenzie faces up to 12 months in prison along with a £20,000 fine after being found guilty of supplying unsafe part worn tyres to the public. The jury at Lincoln Crown Court unanimously found defendant Luke McKenzie, trading as Moss Tyres in Grantham, guilty on 16 accounts of being in possession to supply dangerous products, namely unsafe part worn tyres, to consumers after one hour’s deliberation. McKenzie also pleaded guilty on two other accounts – one account of supplying a spare tyre of the incorrect size during a Trading Standards test purchase operation; and one account of providing false information stating that that tyres fitted by the business had been balanced when they had not.
RH Claydon’s John Parker gave his first Tyre Wholesalers Group speech as chairman at the group’s annual lunch in November. Parker covered the current state of the market, before summing up current views on part worn tyres and tyre labelling, the latter of which he labelled a “debacle”. Attending the event, Tyres & Accessories reports the contents of Parker’s speech below. Parker contextualised what he had to say with current UK market figures. Saying that the consumer tyre replacement market has “stabilised at about 34m units give or take”, he reserved judgement on whether this represented a corner starting to be turned, while noting that this did not take into account part worn sales.
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