July/August 2021

JULY/AUGUST 2021 AFTERMARKET 11 colleagues in Trading Standards simply do not have the resources to police these companies. We have found tyres for sale where the structural integrity is totally compromised, with large cuts, bulges, side wall cracking and other faults such as embedded nails and screws or exposed plies and cords. The tyres very rarely have passed an inflation test prior to sale and often have less than the legally required 2mm of tread. They are not stored correctly and the legally required ‘PART WORN’ marking which must be permanently and legibly applied in letters at least 4mm high is invariably missing. Many of the tyres for sale range from 12-16 years old and the people fitting them are not always qualified tyre technicians. “Also, let’s not forget where such tyres are coming from. They are often tyres that have been removed from a vehicle because the driver of that vehicle believed that they needed replacing, or tyres removed from a scrapped vehicle that may have been involved in an accident and then we have the winter tyres, not really suitable or designed for general all weather motoring, imported by the container load from Germany etc.” Responsible recycler Stefan continued: “The NTDA still believes that in the absence of effective enforcement of dodgy part worn dealers, there should be a ban on the sale of such dangerous part worn tyres. As a minimum, there should be a nationally recognised, and endorsed inspection and audit scheme such as that proposed several years ago by the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA). “On the subject of the TRA, another way to combat the cowboy element of the part worn tyre trade is for legitimate tyre retailers and distributors to ensure they only use TRA members that have been audited under the Responsible Recycler Scheme and have the necessary Environment Agency, or in Scotland SEPA, permits in place. Otherwise retailers may be complicit in feeding what should be end-of-life tyres ready for reprocessing, back into the marker as part worn tyres. We have numerous examples of white-van-man collecting end-of-life tyres from retailers, sorting through them to find the best ones to sell as part worns and fly-tipping the rest in lay-bys, car parks or even nature reserves.” Stefan added: “Our NTDA Members Don’t Sell Part Worn Tyres Campaign has been highly successful in highlighting the dangers of part worns, and the Ban Part Worn Tyres campaign launched by our member John Stone of Stone Tyres in St. Helens which we backed also had a massive impact.” For more information, go to www.ntda.co.uk Final thoughts As the summer holidays begin, many garages will be looking to generate revenue by offering pre-holiday checks. With international travel still a very shaky bet, many people in the UK may be looking to head out on four wheels in July and August. When they do come in, tyres will be a major area for attention. If you do point out to a customer that their tyres seem a bit low on tread, or there are other problem areas, if you are then told that these tyres were recent purchases, and they knew they were putting on part worn tyres, point them in the direction of the TyreSafe website, or towards the NTDA’s work on the part worn problem. More directly, see if you can talk them into getting some proper tyres as soon as possible. Even if you send them up the road so someone else is selling the tyres to them, you might just save their life. In short, take care of your customers and their tyres. %$" $ !"#$%& GDI Injector %#% $ # $% Cleaner % $ $ % " $ % # " $ $ # # Email: info@kalimex.co Call: 0800 783 3717 For more information: % . uk