NEWS

Annual Dinner Sold OutThe 2010 NTDA Annual Dinner and Taff Awards Gala night looks like being the most successful event ever organised by the Association, with all tickets sold with six weeks to go before the event.Commented Director Richard Edy “Interest in the Dinner has been unprecedented and we are delighted that we have a full house, although we have taken steps to limit numbers to ensure the room will be comfortable for guests”.The event, at the iconic Hilton Deansgate, will also be the stage to announce the winners of the coveted Tyre and Fast Fit Awards for 2010.TAFF Awards sponsored by logistics giant DHL, ECI International organisers of Brityrex and media partner Tyres and Accessories. NTDA members and guests are encouraged to spend time at Brityrex during their stay in Manchester. ECI report exhibitor numbers up 20 per cent on the last show in 2007 and that the revamped Manchester Central venue is set to host a truly international tyre and equipment exhibition. To pre-register, visit www.eci-international.com

SOLD OUT

Official Card Processor of the National Tyre Distribution Association

NTDA has formed a new affi nity partnership with PaymentSense for members to receive discounts on their chip and pin services including guaranteed reduced rates and upgrades to the most sophisticated terminals on the market.PaymentSense is a division of Bank of Scotland Merchant Services and is the UK’s leading provider of payment processing for SME’s. As NTDA’s new offi cial card processor they are offering members unbeatable rates on card processing costs with a guarantee to cap their low rates for the duration of any agreement.PaymentSense provide 24/7 customer support and a variety of terminals ranging from a static machine that will plug into your phone, a Bluetooth machine that has a 1000 metre radius and a fully mobile unit that works through GPRS and can be used anywhere within the UK which doesn’t need a phone line.Commented Director Richard Edy “We are delighted to add this great new service to our list of affi nity deals as it will provide our members with real fi nancial benefi ts. Members will be contacted over the coming weeks and we hope they will take advantage of this unique offer”.

Run Flat Repair SurveyConsiderable discussion is taking place within the Industry as to whether to repair run flat tyres or not. Some members adopt a policy of NOT repairing under any circumstances on the basis that many manufacturers refuse to accept any liability for a tyre that has been repaired and pass the responsibility over to the repairer. We feel that members should be consulted on whether the Association should adopt a stance on this so we are currently carrying out a member wide consultation on what our overall recommendation should be. In an effort to assist members in explaining the position, we have, via the Tyre Wholesalers Group, produced an attractive A2 poster for centre display to clarify matters for customers – copies are available, free of charge, from Aylesbury. The outcome of the consultation will be announced in due course. The September edition of the popular NTDA Service Bulletin again features run-flats and extra copies are available from Aylesbury.

NEWSwww.ntda.co.uk

Health & Safety Conference series launched at BrityrexA national series of workshops to launch a new health and safety publication aimed at Tyre and Exhaust fitting premises is being launched at Brityrex in October. The event, which is entitled, “Health & Safety for the Tyre & Fast Fit Industry”, will feature a range of subjects covering important health and safety issues such as working under vehicles, emergency roadside work, equipment maintenance and a detailed review of HSG 261 which is a one-stop-shop for safety in the Tyre and Fast Fit sector.The series is being organised by the NTDA in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive, and, as with the last series on Manual Handling, local Authority Inspectors covering the localities of the events will also be invited, providing tyre retailers with a unique networking opportunity with their local inspectors.Peter Woolger, HSE Head of the Motor Vehicle Repair Industry and Chairman of the important industry forum, the Motor Vehicle Repair Group, will jointly chair the events with the National Chairman of the NTDA David White. Speakers already confirmed include Dave Garratt, the Director of the Garage Equipment Association, local HSE Mechanical Specialist Inspectors and HSE Ergonomics Specialists who will be looking in detail at the new MAC tool “Pull and Push” together with several leading health and safety specialists from major UK tyre retailers.The first event will be held on October 6th in a conference room in the entrance of Manchester Central, the location of the Brityrex Show, which will give delegates ample opportunity to visit the UK’s only specialist tyre and fast fit exhibition which will be running concurrently with the seminar.A complimentary VIP ticket will be given to each registered delegate so delegates will be able to walk out of the seminar straight into the show. Other locations include Thurrock on November 9th, Bristol in February and Glasgow in March (all venues to be confirmed).

October 6 H&S Workshop...Manchester

November 9 H&S Workshop...Thurrock 11 Tyre Wholesalers AGM and Lunch...Solihull 13 Northern Ireland Region Ladies Night...Belfast 23 North West and North Wales AGM...Chester

December 4 North West and North Wales Ladies Night ...Blackpool

Part-worn tyre survey...Dozens of members have agreed to support a nationwide survey that the NTDA will be staging in September to establish just how many part worn tyres are sold that do not comply with current legislation.The survey will involve over a hundred centres who will professionally inspect the tyres and prepare a detailed report on each one purchased which will be consolidated into the largest nationwide survey of this sort ever undertaken.The TyreSafe organisation carried out a survey recently with Birmingham trading standards which found that nine out of the ten tyres inspected failed to meet the minimum legal standards.Among the failures reported in this survey were tyres which had nails embedded, illegal tread depth, exposed cords, inadequate markings and one tyre which was 17 years old. TyreSafe also found that more than one in ten drivers is more likely to buy part worn tyres compared with 12 months ago.“This survey was a shocking reminder that motorists are buying dangerous tyres in an effort to comply with the tread depth legalisation – ignoring the other safety aspects of tyres” commented NTDA Director Richard Edy, he continued “the Birmingham survey really set the alarm bells ringing so we thought that we would mobilise our membership throughout the UK and Northern Ireland to get a clearer, national picture, on this shady sector of the business.”The results of the survey will be published next month.

Support for Responsible Recycler SchemeMembers are giving full support to the Tyre Industry Federation Responsible Recycling Scheme and a recent survey of the trade showed that 82% of respondents said that they were aware of the Responsible Recycling Scheme.

Of these, 93% said that they used a RRS member to collect their scrap tyres. Our picture is clear evidence that Kwik-fit are one of those supporters!