Although he claimed no intentional involvement in the theft of Pirelli tyres worth more than £102,000, Graham Wait was found guilty of conspiracy to commit theft in February. At his sentencing at Carlisle Crown Court last Friday, Wait received an 18 month suspended sentence for the role he played in the theft of 358 Pirelli tyres, and was ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs and to perform 200 hours of unpaid work.
The owner of a tyre waste business has been given a 15-month custodial sentence, suspended for 2 years, and a 2 year supervision order after illegally storing almost 84,659 waste tyres at several sites in Devon. The case was brought by the Environment Agency and the sentence was handed down on 25 March.
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.
The legal dispute between Apollo Tyres and Cooper Tire & Rubber has now ended following the final dismissal of litigation filled by Cooper Tire against Apollo.
Apollo Tyres has responded positively to a court decision against Cooper Tire & Rubber’s bid for compensation following the breakup of the Apollo/Cooper acquisition late last year. Cooper sought a US$112 million breakup fee as it viewed Apollo as having breached the merger agreement, however Delaware Chancery Court Judge Sam Glasscock III ruled on 31 October that Cooper itself hadn’t done all it could to satisfy the deal’s closing conditions.
Alexander Keating, 23, of Widnes, stole a gearshift knob, steering wheel, brake callipers and other parts from a brand-new Audi A3 that he had hired and swapped them with the same component parts from his ageing S3. He has been fined £2,000 and sentenced to complete 200 hours of community service for the crime.
