NEWS Part Worn Tyre Forum Meets In January’s NTDA News we said that newly-elected Vice Chairman Roger Griggs would be exploring, with members, ways of combating the trade in part worn tyres. In February, the inaugural meeting of the Part Worn Tyre Forum was held to discuss the subject. Present were representatives of leading tyre retailers and the forum was chaired by Roger Griggs. The first step the Forum set itself was to establish the size of the problem using figures from the Department for Business Information and Skills Used Tyre Working Group. Their latest figures relate to 2011 and, after discussion, it was estimated that the part worn market currently stands at around 5.5 million units. One of the attendees said that his staff had investigated how many part worn tyre dealers operate in Birmingham and the figure was an astonishing 800 plus!! The Tyre Industry Federation and Tyre Recovery Association are considering projects, currently in the development stage, aimed at further regulating the part worn market and registering sellers of these products. NTDA Director Richard Edy warned: “The NTDA is extremely wary of such schemes, believing that they could confer an aura of approval on part worn dealers and that this would conflict with the efforts of the tyre industry to educate the public in the potential dangers of some part worn tyres and their lack of value for money.”
New Tyre Collection Concept... “We don’t want our members providing feedstock to the part worn market and during the meeting we considered a proposal that would ensure that tyres collected from NTDA members’ premises do not find their way back into the UK market as part worns.” This unique approach to tyre collection will be further explored in subsequent forum meetings. It was debated whether or not the whole tyre industry should, probably through the TIF, employ professional lobbyists to get the message of safety implications of part worn tyres across. This will be brought up at the next TIF meeting. It was agreed at the Part Worn Forum that the NTDA should work more closely with Trading Standards and TyreSafe and support them in trying to enforce existing legislation more rigorously. The NTDA will put together a proposal for closer working with Trading Standards, aimed at closing down those part worn dealers who flout the legislation.
New Members The following companies were accepted as members of the Association by Council on 27 February. Full Members Kinross Tyres Ltd t/a Tyrefair Unit 10 Bridgend Industrial Estate, Kinross KY13 8GA Tel 01577 865656 Fax 01577 865666 E: info@tyrefair.com Fastfit Station Ltd (3 depots), Unit 2 Newmarket Court, Kingston, Milton Keynes MK10 0AQ Tel: 01908 288299 Fax: 01908 288291 E: ho@fastfitstation.com www.fastfitstation.com Supplier Member Autoclimate Ltd, Unit 37 Atcham Business Park, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY4 4UG Tel: 0345 5050 900 Fax: 0345 5050 901 www.autoclimate.com
Martin Rowlands Bows Out Rowlands receives certificate Martin Rowlands has Martin from National Chairman Stephen Callow announced that he is leaving the tyre industry, having sold his company, Tyrefair. As many will know, over the years Martin has been an active member of the NTDA and has made a major contribution to the running of the Association. In addition to having been the Scottish representative on Council for over a decade, Martin was Chairman of the Scottish Region and NTDA National President between 2002/2005. In recognition of the contribution that Martin has made to the Association, the Council unanimously agreed to appoint Martin as an Honorary Life Member of the Association. Tyrefair is continuing as a member and, as is recorded elsewhere on these pages, its membership was approved at Council.