By Denna Bowman

Many UK motorists are unprepared for punctures to their tyres and don’t know who to change a wheel, according to a recent survey by the RAC.

One in three vehicle owners quizzed by the breakdown organisation said that they hadn’t organised spare tyres since buying new or second-hand cars that came without one.

And 18% said they carry a puncture repair kit and presumed that would be enough to get them out of trouble.

While a quarter of the motorists questioned admitted that they had not had their spare tyre repaired or replaced since their last puncture.

Of those drivers who do carry a spare tyre, one in five have never checked that it’s roadworthy, according to the RAC.

The statistics also revealed that a third of women questioned said they wouldn’t know where to start if they had to change a wheel.

The poll, which was taken by more than 1,000 British drivers, comes as the RAC continues to roll-out its new ‘multi-fit’ wheel.

This can be temporarily fitted to any car that doesn’t have a spare wheel and when a repair is not viable, allowing the vehicle to be transported by the Patrol to the members home or a garage.

RAC technical director David Bizley said: ‘The majority of motorists trust that new cars are sold with a spare wheel as standard, so it’s a big concern that increasingly they are not.

‘Our research shows that one in three drivers had to change a wheel in the last 12 months. RAC patrols annually attend 250,000 tyre-related incidents so the supply of a spare is critical.’

A staggering 802 cars and trucks have been impounded and the owners fined in a well-orchestrated tyres safety campaign.

The Abu Dhabi Police Traffic campaign is aimed at increasing the awareness of motorists to the connection between vehicle tyres and road accidents.

It comes in the wake of the increasing number of road accidents resulting from worn-out tyres.

The 802 vehicles that were impounded were all using worn out car tyres, according to Colonel Hamad Adeel Al Shamsi, the director of the Traffic and Car Patrols.

The owners will be fined and six traffic points will be removed from the drivers.  Their vehicles will be impounded for seven days for violating the law.

The three-month long campaign, which got underway earlier this month, involves a comprehensive field plan devised to intensify police patrols on all roads.

Col Al Shamsi said that traffic control will be stepped up regarding vehicles that are using old and expired tyres.

He said: “4,259 tyre violations were given out recently and the number of accidents because of tyre bursts were 27 over the last five months, which also led to 14 deaths, 7 major injuries and 39 medium-to-simple injuries.”

Col Al Shamsi emphasised that the whole operation is to increase the awareness of drivers to the increasing fatalities involving expired tyres.

The car tyre campaign is being sponsored by Bridgestone tyres, which is providing free services at petrol stations to check tyres and fill them with air.

 Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

Pirelli tyres has started a five-day shutdown at its two factories in the UK.

The planned closures at the Italian tyres manufacturers plants in Carlisle and Burton-upon-Trent are in response to the low level of demand for tyres across Europe.

Production has ceased at the factories today and will re-start again on 2^nd July.

Bosses had increased production at the Carlisle factory during May as a response to an expected stabilisation of the market, which has been hit by the problems dogging the recession-hit car market.

Staff at the beleaguered plant had been boosted by the decision to return to a full working week, however, Pirelli stressed the situation was under constant review.

However, the air of optimism was short lived, and a few weeks later this latest shutdown was announced, with bosses admitting they were working to “limit sacrifices”.

Back in March the tyres firm cut 20 jobs at the Carlisle factory in Dalston Road and previous shutdowns have taken place at both plants since the start of the year.

A Pirelli spokesman said: “The company appreciates this is a worrying and financially challenging period for our employees however this action is necessary for securing the future of Pirelli in the UK.”

The Met Office is forecasting a hot and dry summer, so the AA has released its top 10 tips for safer motoring, including checking tyres.

The roads are expected to be busier as research suggests that one in five people who holidayed abroad in 2008 will remain in the UK this year.

Checking tyres for signs of damage and making sure they are correctly inflated with plenty of tread, is just one of the top 10 tips the AA wants motorists to heed before they set off on day trips or long journeys.

Simon Tennyson, managing director of AA Warranty, said: “The news that thousands more people will be holidaying in the UK is great for the economy, but it will add to congestion on our roads, with even more people expected to break down as a result.

‘With this in mind, the AA has compiled a list of 10 top tips to make sure your vehicle is in good condition to face the summer weather.’

As well as checking tyres, the other AA tips include: 

Check your battery to ensure that the connections are clean and tight, and free from corrosion. Battery problems are the number one cause of breakdowns.

Ensure oil, coolant, windscreen wash and brake fluid levels are correct.

Check your cooling fan to ensure it’s running properly before a long journey. Set the heater to cold, run the car to normal temperature and then allow the engine to idle for five to 10 minutes – you should hear the fan cut in automatically as the engine heats up.

If tyres or batteries need replacing, etyres – the UKs leading online tyres retailer - operates a mobile fitting service which means customers don’t have to waste time driving to high street depots and waiting for the work to be carried out.

And because etyres overheads are so low, it can pass the savings on to customers in the form of lower prices – up to 40% cheaper and leading high street tyre depots.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Denna Bowman 

A new online initiative has been launched to promote truck tyres safety.

Tyresafe, the tyre safety organisation, has added truck safety information to its website and is promoting a truck tyres safety handout through its online presence.

Defective tyres represent a growing number of MoT failures in the HGV sector, with statistics recorded by VOSA showing that an MoT failure rate of 36.5 percent was recorded in 2007/8, with ‘condition of tyres’ ranking as the second most common failure defect.

The new TyreSafe web pages contain invaluable tyre safety advice for all members of the commercial vehicle community, including fleet managers, workshop managers, fleet inspectors and drivers and are designed to be informative and easily accessible.

Stuart Jackson, chairman of Tyresafe, said: “With fleet operators increasingly under pressure to ensure the provision of safe and roadworthy vehicles and VOSA officials now able to issue fixed penalty notices to drivers at the roadside, commercial vehicle users must be more vigilant than ever to ensure that their vehicles’ tyres are legal and correctly maintained.

“Making tyre maintenance a key priority allows commercial fleet operators to help ensure the safety of their drivers and reduce the number of accidents caused by defective tyres on our roads.

“TyreSafe’s new truck tyre safety guide provides a useful point of reference for safety information together with a set of practical tips.”

During a recession, when money is tight and everyone is nervous about their future, it pays to shop around to get the best deals on essentials like tyres.

Nobody wants to have to fork out for tyres, but they are a necessity not a luxury, and that’s why more people are turning to etyres, the UKs leading online tyres retailer.

Etyres offer a mobile fitting service, which means it doesn’t have expensive garages to maintain and so savings can be passed on to customers in the form of lower prices – up to 40 per cent cheaper than the leading high street depots.

So while industry figures report that UK passenger car tyre sales declined by 26 per cent in May, etyres are bucking the trend and seeing double digit growth because it offers low prices and a convenient mobile service.

And customers don’t have to sacrifice premium brands and trade down to budget tyres, because the prices for big names, like Michelin and Pirelli, are all miles cheaper than at the traditional tyres depots.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Oliver Hall

Michelin tyres could cut as many as 3,500 jobs in France by 2011, the French tyre group confirmed yesterday.

A spokeswoman for Michelin said: “When you add up the 700 job cuts already announced when we closed our plant in Toul, the 1,093 job cuts of last week and an estimate of our workforce needs by 2011, which we see down 650 to 1,700 jobs due to productivity gains, we reach that figure of 2,400 to 3,500 jobs.”

She added that this estimate was conveyed to trade unions in a workers meeting on Wednesday.

Le Figaro newspaper reported earlier on Thursday that unions were expecting up to 3,500 job cuts at the French tyres company.

Michelin, the second largest tyres manufacturer in the world, is acting in response to the collapse in global demand for tyres

Tyre makers have been hit hard by the decline in demand for their products due to the worldwide recession.

Sales have plummeted along with automakers, which have been forced to slash production to reduce costly inventories of unsold vehicles as the recession has dried up demand for new cars.

Dunlop are on the hunt for performance car drivers to take part in a nationwide test to discover what difference the choice of tyre makes to their car.

The company will provide tyres and tuition from a top Hi-Q British Touring Car Championship driver to transform the driving experience of six drivers from across the UK.

The test, which will run throughout the summer, will be launched at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where drivers will be able to put themselves forward to take part.

James Bailey, Dunlop’s communications manager said; “We want drivers to understand what difference the tyres make to their car. Dunlop incorporate design elements from race tyre technology in our road tyres to improve the connection and feedback between driver, car and road.

“More drivers have won demanding races such as the Le Mans 24 hours and British Touring Car championship on Dunlop than any other tyre make, and we want to show drivers how this experience translates into ultimate road tyre performance.”

Organisers of the tyre test would like a good cross section of cars and drivers to take part.

Mr Bailey said: “We’d like to go right across the performance car spectrum with this test, whether hot-hatches, sports saloons or right up to something in the supercar league.

“We are offering participants a free set of whichever Dunlop performance tyres are appropriate for
their car, plus track training from one of the Hi-Q BTCC drivers.

“All we need them to do is tell us about the difference the Dunlop tyres and the BTCC driver training
have made to their car and their driving experience.”

Drivers who want to be considered to take part should come along to the Dunlop stage in the stableyard at Goodwood during the Festival of Speed on July 4th, 5th or 6^th and tell the Dunlop team about themselves and their car.

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Oliver Hall

A new simplified labelling system, which shows a tyres potential fuel savings, safety features and tread life ratings, could be introduced in the US.

The government has put forward proposals for removable labels that feature information to ensure that consumers are more informed about the tyres they purchase.

And making consumers aware of which tyres are the best fuel savers could reduced the 135 billion gallons of fuel consumed every year by as much as 2 per cent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In addition to a fuel efficiency rating, the label would include a wet traction index and tread wear rating.

The new rating is based on the tyres rolling resistance, which contributes to the overall efficiency of the vehicle.

They are a requirement of the 2007 energy bill and NHSTA has to finalise them by the end of the year.

With fuel prices rising again, the new labels could accelerate a growing marketing war among tyre manufacturers when it comes to touting “low rolling resistance,” the measure for tyre fuel savings.

Ray LaHood, the US Transportation Secretary, said: “Today’s proposal takes the guesswork out of buying the best tyres for your vehicle

“Our proposal would let consumers look at a single label and compare a tyre’s overall performance as it relates to fuel economy, safety and durability.”

Michelin tyres has been honoured with an award for promoting a healthy workplace for staff and helping employees and their families to make better choices about their own well-being.

The North America tyres firm’s innovative wellness programme earned it a Best Employer for Healthy Lifestyles from the National Business Group on Health.

Michelin was among 63 companies that received the award and it also received a Silver Award for the design and concept of its Choose Well-Live Well programme.

Martin Storey, director of benefits for Michelin North America, said: “Michelin’s employees are undoubtedly our company’s greatest asset.

“This award validates the company’s commitment to enhancing quality of life for employees by helping them improve overall health.

“The Choose Well-Live Well program is an innovative approach to wellness that provides employees with the tools and resources they need to help make informed health care decisions.

“It also prompts them to think about health care and wellness in a completely new way.”

Launched in January 2009, the Choose Well-Live Well program is a long-term strategy that provides each Michelin employee and their family with a health advocate to help navigate the health care system and improve efficiency through better coordination of care.

Choose Well-Live Well shifts the primary focus of health care from treatment of illness to wellness, prevention and quality of care.

The program also integrates preventative care and consumer-driven medical plan design with healthy food choices, health risk assessments, health coaching, weight management, condition management, case management, financial incentives, and enhanced employee assistance program services.

Denna Bowman, Head Office