Recent convictions of retailers across the UK highlight the potential risks unsuspecting motorists take when buying part worn tyres. These cases in Scotland and London followed investigations by Trading Standards and TyreSafe into the sale of dangerous and illegal tyres. In each instance, the retailers faced stiff penalties and fines totalling thousands of pounds.
European lighting and automotive aftermarket specialist, Ring has become a supporter of TyreSafe. Ring will help spread the key messages of TyreSafe’s campaigns and support the charity in its ongoing awareness raising. The company supplies a tyre safety kit for motorists, including award-winning tyre inflators, tread depth and pressure gauges and emergency sealants.
A new online tyre price comparison service has launched, aiming to provide UK motorists with an online tool to choose their tyres quickly and easily, and bringing together products from a wide variety of retail businesses. Motokiki’s comparison engine is designed to offer an impartial whole of market price comparison of tyres from a broad range of suppliers, as well as tyre label result comparison, and the location in which they can be fitted. The company initially comprises 20 staff in offices a short walk from Port Talbot railway station, working on the technical development and marketing of the website, with other aspects of the business outsourced to teams around the country, such as its London-based communications agency, FWD Consulting. Tyres & Accessories travelled to south Wales in late November to attend the launch, with Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”) and the Development Bank of Wales, which have collectively made an equity investment of £3 million in the company, also represented.
The European Union is advancing plans to broader the coverage of type approval provisions that mandate the installation of tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) in new vehicles. For some time the type approval rules have required that TPMS is fitted in new passenger cars, but some arguably borderline vehicles such as SUVs and pickup trucks have been exempt from the rules.
UK charity TyreSafe has launched a new awareness campaign aimed at “parent chauffeurs.” Noting the statistic that parents are likely to have spent more than 3,000 hours (around 125 days non-stop motoring) driving their children around by the time they reach 20, the Home Safely on Safe Tyres campaign highlights the importance of tyres in minimising the risks to drivers and their young passengers while on the roads. It also emphasises to all drivers entrusted with child care that it is their responsibility to check the condition of their car’s tyres.
Goodyear supported October’s Tyre Safety Month by checking the tyre treads of more than 850 vehicles on Birmingham Business Park, supported by local tyre and autocare centre, HiQ Easy Autos. A team of eight trained Goodyear and HiQ Easy Autos employees took to the car parks of several businesses on the park including Rolls Royce, Arval, Adecco and SSP to measure the tread depths on vehicles, leaving an advice leaflet on every car checked.
Falken Tyre specialist retailer Walsall Wood Tyre & Service has hosted a tyre safety event as part of TyreSafe’s National Tyre Safety month in October 2018. The event was jointly hosted by leading wholesaler and exclusive Falken distributor Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) with more than 30 guests in attendance throughout the evening.
TyreSafe is giving away prizes galore in the last week of Tyre Safety Month to participants of its TyreSafe Test. Prizes have been donated by supporters of the UK’s tyre safety charity, including some of the best-known tyre brands and retailers, and range from race tickets to branded gloves and caps, tread depth gauges and T-shirts.
Commenting on road safety statistics showing that tyres cause more than 1000 casualties and 183 deaths a year, TyreSafe chairman Stuart Jackson lamented the reality that the figures have not gone down during the NTDA Tyre Industry Conference.
Pneumatic Components (PCL), the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of pneumatic and tyre inflation systems, is reminding drivers of the importance of having correctly inflated tyres this Tyre Safety Month (October).
Pictures of de-mounted tyres removed from cars at Micheldever retail businesses look more like scrap than tyres taken of road-going vehicles two weeks ago. And this has made some company representatives suggest that the problem of illegal wear is worse than ever.
Investigations by TyreSafe in partnership with Trading Standards over the past five years have revealed a staggering 139 of the 152 part worn outlets visited were selling illegal and unsafe tyres to unsuspecting motorists. That leaves just 13 dealers selling roadworthy tyres from inspections spanning from Scotland to London.
TyreSafe and Trading Standards investigations highlighted that part worn retailers are either ignoring their responsibilities when selling tyres or do not have the required skill to serve motorists properly. During test purchases, some have fitted tyres with water in them to wheels, others have provided the wrong size of tyre, and the supply of examples with nails and other objects embedded in them is all too common.
Responding to statistics showing that a third of all tyre related incidents occur during the summer months, released as part of TyreSafe’s summer motoring guide, Absolute Alignment advises all motorists holidaying by car to check tyre pressures and wheel alignment before taking to the road. According to the Department for Transport’s data, despite the UK’s cold weather and difficult road conditions from October through to March, it is actually July and August when tyre related accidents are at their most frequent.
In March Quantcast published data suggesting the automotive sector is missing the mark when it comes to communicating with motorists. You might think advertising campaigns focussed on themes such as “road”, “speed” and “fast” come with the territory, but the survey revealed that such clichés are actually shutting out up to half of potential customers. Why? Because such concepts are generally designed to appeal to men, despite growing purchasing power among women. Indeed, UK government data shows that car ownership among women increased 75 per cent in the 20 years up to 2014.
Its summer holiday time and for many this means a long car trip. For some this also means tyre problems – Department for Transport data shows July to be the month when tyre-related incidents are at their highest. Indeed, one third of all tyre-related incidences in the UK occur during the summer months.
