‘Londoners wasting thousands of pounds on cars’ according to research
According to the latest research from Ubeeqo, the mobility app, Londoners are wasting thousands of pounds each year on buying, taxing, maintaining, insuring and parking cars they hardly use, as they do not want to solely rely on public transport. “Londoners seem to be hostage to car ownership” said Benoit Chatelier, founder and CEO of Ubeeqo.
Continue ReadingIAAF annual BEN cricket match set for June
The IAAF annual BEN Cricket Match, co-sponsored by FPS and Comma, has been announced and will take place on Thursday 23 June at Dorridge Cricket Club near Solihull, with hopes to raise as much money as possible for the automotive industry charity.
Continue ReadingExpecting a baby? Add tyre checks to your to-do list, urges TyreSafe
Of the 700,000 or so babies that will make their first journey home from hospital this year, more than a quarter may do so in a car that drives on illegal or dangerous tyres. TyreSafe bases this statistic on the results of a survey of more than 100,000 tyres it conducted together with Highways England, and with the implications of this in mind has launched a new awareness campaign aimed at pregnant women. The safety organisation is encouraging mums-to-be to add CHECK TYRES to their pre-birth checklist in anticipation of the most important journey they will ever make – the trips to and from hospital, before and after the arrival of their baby.
Continue ReadingSUVs the best-selling vehicle segment in Europe
We’ve heard that European new car registrations went up by 9.3 per cent in 2015 and we’ve heard that the UK delivered record figures. But what has been less widely reported is the fact that the strong European increase has been driven by what analysts have called “an SUV boom”. A boom that the British market played a key part in. For the first time in the history of European car sales, SUVs led the way, outselling the traditional subcompact and compact segments, posting an increase of 24 per cent at 3.2 million units. Their market share grew from 19.8 per cent in 2014 to 22.5 per cent in 2015, leaving the subcompacts in second position with 22 per cent share, and the compacts segment third with 20.6 per cent. These vehicles along with the mid-size saloons and sports cars were the only segments to gain market share in 2015.
Continue ReadingCeltic dilemma for Autoparts UK part-time footballer
East Kilbride’s semi-professional footballer, Sean Winter, who also works within the independent aftermarket as a parts representative for Autoparts UK, faces one of the toughest decisions of his life: play Celtic in the Scottish Cup or fly to Australia on his dream, family holiday.
Continue ReadingTructyre wins £1.2 million driverless truck funding bid
A consortium initiated by Tructyre has won £1.2 million of funding for its “Pathway to Autonomous Commercial Vehicles” project. This project aims to develop “an innovative solution to monitor key information from the vehicle and predict safety risks based on analytics”. It builds on a prototype which monitors tyre pressures and temperatures in commercial vehicles, combined with always-on network connection.
Continue ReadingBritain to become a global driverless vehicle centre
Eight projects have been awarded a total of £20 million in funding to research and develop enhanced communication between vehicles and roadside infrastructure or urban information systems, including new ‘talking car technologies’, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced on a visit to the autonomous vehicles test bed at MIRA in Nuneaton on 1 February 2016. The projects are the first to be funded from the government’s £100 million Intelligent Mobility Fund. They range from developing autonomous shuttles to carry visually-impaired passengers using advanced sensors and control systems, to new simulation trials for autonomous pods to increase uptake and improve real-world trials.
Continue ReadingCall for lower alcohol limit and French-style breathalyser law
Following the debate of a Private Members’ Bill in the House of Lords on Friday 29 January, which sought to lower the drink-drive limit in England and Wales to the same as Scotland, alcohol safety experts say more lives could be saved with the introduction of a breathalyser law.
Continue ReadingTranslogik promotes iTruck system
Translogik is promoting is iTruck system, which tracks tyre temperature, pressure, GPS position and vehicle braking information in real-time. According to the company, iTruck provides a “rugged and reliable solution” that offers detailed early warnings signals of potential tyre related issues. As a result fleet operator and/or service provider can take swift remedial, which could be the difference between safe operation and a major incident/unnecessary downtime.
Continue ReadingDVSA appoints new chief executive
Gareth Llewellyn has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). He joins DVSA on Monday 14 March 2016, before formally taking over from acting chief executive Paul Satoor on Friday 1 April 2016. Satoor will remain as deputy chief executive.
Continue ReadingPirelli apprentices talk about their experiences at Carlisle Skills Fair
Pirelli has supported the 2016 Carlisle Skills Fair alongside other businesses from the local area. Held at the Sands Centre in the city, the event brought together local training providers, employers and career advisors. The aim was to showcase to young people and to those out of work in the area what types of roles are actually on offer and how to make that next step into forging a career. The event was hosted by local MP John Stevenson.
Continue ReadingPro-Align to return to CV Show in 2016
Wheel servicing equipment specialist Pro-Align has confirmed its return to the CV Show in 2016, having launched its commercial vehicle wheel alignment system in its debut appearance last year. The garage equipment distributor will showcase its expanding range of commercial vehicle servicing products designed to improve the efficiency, profitability and revenue generation opportunities of workshops.
Continue ReadingCentral Tyre branch wins Pirelli Performance Centre of the year
Central Tyre, Chester has been names as the 2015/16 Pirelli Performance Centre of the year. Each year Pirelli awards one of its 107 Performance Centres with the PPC of the year title. To determine the winner 11 top performing PPCs had a video mystery shop exercise, scored by an independent assessor. Central Tyre, Chester achieved a near perfect score and were therefore recognised with the award.
Continue ReadingRegular tyre checks could save tens of millions of pounds – TyreSafe
TyreSafe-compiled research frequently shows the human impact of tyre-related incidents in support of its arguments for motorists to increase tyre checks, but the latest infographic from the organisation also counts the economic cost. The estimated cost of tyre-related incidents to the economy over the last five reported years is £416 million, averaging £83.2 million annually, according to Department for Transport figures to 2014.
Continue ReadingZenises launches new website
Zenises has launched a new website “designed to accommodate the company’s expanding business activity and showcase its multi-brand tyre brand portfolio”. Zenises.com carries details of the firm’s Z and T brands and introduces the firm’s long-standing association with Westlake passenger and commercial tyres as well as more recent tyre brand additions such as Triangle truck tyres.
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