Michelin are delighted to have been selected as the sole supplier of the original equipment tyres for the new Kia Cee’d range.

The French company will be providing two energy efficient tyres ranges, the Michelin Energy Saver and the Michelin Primacy HP for the model’s 15 and 16 inch wheels.

Michelin has long worked closely with the Korean car manufacturer and when the first Kia Cee’d was launched in 2006, it was already fitted exclusively with Michelin tyres.

Today, the model’s restyling has given the partnership new impetus, with the Michelin Energy Saver replacing the third-generation Michelin Energy.

Introduced in 2008, the Michelin Energy Saver reduces fuel consumption thereby lowering carbon emissions by 4 g/km. Moreover, it continues to offer all of a Michelin tyre’s safety and longevity benefits.

The Michelin Energy Saver and Michelin Primacy HP sidewalls are marked with the ‘Green X’ label, Michelin’s signature logo indicating that they are highly fuel efficient tyres.

At the same time, they are capable of delivering the most powerful grip possible on wet roads and are extremely wear-resistant.

The Kia cee’d’s distinctive new tyres are therefore part of the same family that Michelin has marketed since 1992 – all recognisable by the ‘Green X’ logo.

Since their launch, more than 11-billion litres of fuel have been saved and nearly 29-million tonnes of carbon emissions have been avoided worldwide thanks to these tyres.

Through the joint development of the new Michelin-equipped Kia Cee’d, Michelin and Kia have demonstrated their ability to design simple, affordable solutions to make automobiles safer, more economical and more environmentally sensitive.

Oliver Hall, Operations Team

By Denna Bowman

The Obama administration’s first real test on trade policy is just round the corner.

The US president must decide whether to impose new import restrictions on Chinese tyres under what is known as its “China safeguard” law.

However, the decision relating to the tyres is not just a test of Barack Obama’s support for free trade - it is building up to be a defining moment for the anti-trade issue, according to a report in the Financial Times.

History could well record it as the defining moment when the multilateral trading system was able - or not - to withstand the crisis-provoked protectionist forces that currently threaten to bring it down.

The World Bank-sponsored Global Antidumping Database suggests that, since the economic turmoil began, countries have been ganging up to use World Trade Organisation rules in an almost mob-like response to restrict imports from China.

The US tyres case began in April when the United Steelworkers union asked the government to investigate tyre imports from China.

By June, the US International Trade Commission recommended the president impose a new 55 per cent tariff.

President Obama has the discretion under the law to accept this, offer a different package of assistance to the steelworkers or dismiss the case.

One way round the problem would be for the US administration in the imminent China-safeguard decision over tyres is to decline to implement new trade barriers, but to offer the adversely affected communities in the US help through adjustment assistance programmes.

Doing so will help the US stand up for the trading system and counter the crisis-driven mob mentality that threatens to bring it down.

The President is expected to make his decision later next month.

Another motorist is celebrating victory over a county council after potholes in the road damaged one of his alloy wheels and tyres.

The planning consultant hit out at Cambridgeshire County Council - who had refused to pay for the new wheel and tyre - saying they wasted taxpayers money by fighting his claim in the courts.

Tyres, wheels, exhausts, suspension systems and bodywork are all regularly damaged when vehicles hit potholes in the road.

Some motorists just claim on their insurance or foot the bill for the repairs themselves, but increasingly vehicle owners are demanding compensation from the local councils - and getting it.

In this latest case, the county council had argued that the road had been inspected and repaired a month before the accident and that the pothole must have appeared soon afterwards.

But when the case came to court the judge ruled against the council - ordering it to pay £1003 to the motorist to cover the repairs and legal costs.

Mr Quinlan said: “If the road had been repaired a month before, it clearly hadn’t been done very well.
“The council should be spending money on repairing the roads, not contesting these claims.”

The council said the cost of the court action had been £2,500.

Richard Preston, its head of network management, said: “If we were to accept every claim, we expect the number we receive would increase and this would be at the expense of the taxpayer.”

Denna Bowman, Head Office

By Oliver Hall

A 70-year-old man has been quizzed by police over suspected tyres slashing after angry homeowners made a citizen’s arrest.

The elderly suspect had been apprehended by residents who were keeping a close eye on their streets after a spate of slashed car tyres during the past month.

Officers from the Staffordshire force then arrived at the scene in Sneyd Green to arrest the pensioner last week.

He has been released on police bail until October 27 pending further enquiries.

Local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator Terence Andrews said there has been a spate of car tyres being slashed in the past month.

Mr Andrews, aged 50, said he had spotted a man slashing the tyres on a number of occasions.
So, on Wednesday morning, Mr Andrews decided to catch the suspect in the act.

The former self-employed HGV driver said: “I saw him walk past the house and up the road on to Buxton Street so I followed him keeping well behind him.

“I saw him stab the tyres of a Ford Ka and then he walked up to Hanley Road then back down Sneyd Street.

“When he turned into Granville Avenue I approached him and told him he was under citizen’s arrest.

“He asked ‘what for?’ and I said ‘criminal damage to cars in Buxton Street’.

“He started to walk off, but I put my hands up and told him again that he was under arrest.

“Then the police arrived and took him to the station.”

By Alex Kapadia

Kimi Raikkonen used a soft – medium - soft tyres strategy to score his first race win of the season after a thrilling and tactical Belgian Grand Prix at Spa today.

The Ferrari driver finished less than a second ahead of pole-sitter Giancarlo Fisichella who achieved Force India’s best ever result with second, after opting for a tyres line-up of soft-soft-medium.

Sebastian Vettel came in third, but there was bad news for British drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

The Brawn and McLaren drivers went crashing out of the race after a pile-up on the first lap.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of motorsport for Bridgestone, said: “Today we saw a very exciting race, where Bridgestone’s tyres provided a vital ingredient.”

While Hirohide Hamashima, the Japanese tyre manufacturers director of motorsport tyre development, added: “This has been a very interesting weekend from a tyre perspective, and this has provided a very exciting race.

“The medium and soft Bridgestone tyres were quite evenly matched for overall performance, and each podium finisher used a different strategy to achieve their result.

“Which tyre was best for which team depended on car characteristics, set-up and driver preference so we saw a good range of strategy choices.

“We did see some very small blisters today for the first time this season, so we can say that the tyres were worked hard at this track.

“We will use the same tyre allocation at Monza, so it will be interesting to see how the teams translate what they have learnt here to the next race.”

Ross Brawn fears his team’s tyres-warming ‘curse’ has returned, despite earlier optimism that work on the car had cured the problem.

Both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello struggled to get sufficient heat into their tyres in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Before the Belgian Grand Prix, Brawn admitted the poor performance shows how much more work his team needs to do before it can feel comfortable with the situation.

“It was the curse of the tyre temperatures again,” said Brawn. “We were struggling to get the tyres to work, and obviously those teams that managed to get the tyres to work made a very good step.

“With Jenson particularly, we really struggled with the tyres again. On Friday it didn’t look too bad, but we just slipped off a little with tyre temperature. Our curse has slightly returned - not as bad as it could have been. On fuel, with a longer run it’s not bad. For qualifying we struggled.”

Brawn believes that Button’s recent struggles, having been edged out by his team-mate in recent races, can be attributed to his smoother driving style.

“He’s inherently quieter on the tyres,” he said. “Normally that’s an advantage but in these circumstances he struggles a bit more. He’s quite a smooth, gentle driver which is normally a benefit. But when we are on the edge of getting the tyres to work, he seems to struggle a bit more.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Oliver Hall

A blind man has lodged an official complaint after being arrested for threatening to let down the tyres of illegally parked cars.

Daniel Duckfield said he was held in a cell for three hours without his guide dog following the incident.

Mr Duckfield said he had threatened to let down the tyres of the vehicles illegally parked on paths near his home because he was fed up of having to walk on the road to get round them.

After five years of no police action despite his complaints, the 55-year-old from Narbeth, west Wales, said his frustrations had boiled over.

He said, after repeatedly reporting the matter to police without any response, he decided to take the law into his own hands and let down the tyres on one of the offending cars.

After telling the police of his intentions in a phone call on August 17, Mr Duckfield said he was arrested more than 100 yards from the intended target such was the swift response of officers.

He said: “I have been trying so hard to get all this sorted over a five-year period and they go and arrest me.

“They treated me like a common criminal. They took photographs, swabbed my mouth and took my fingerprints.

“They shoved me in the cell for three hours where I had idiots either side of me kicking the doors and shouting. It was frightening.

“I’m totally blind and they wouldn’t even let me take my dog with me. I had to leave the dog in the house. I have never been so shocked in my life.”

Mr Duckfield said he had no choice but to accept a caution for threatening to cause criminal damage before his ordeal was brought to an end.

He now fears the incident will prevent him from carrying out visits to schools to show pupils his guide dog and attending a course at a blind school in Hereford later this year.

Bad news for the residents of Littleport – the blaze at a tyres recycling plant is still burning more than a week after it erupted.

From the road, the tyres yard is a complete scene of devastation with burned out lorries, buildings and scorched trees.

More than 60 firefighters from across Cambridgeshire were called to Murfitt’s yard, where 2000 tonnes of tyres were awaiting processing, nine days ago.

But senior officers decided to allow the blaze to burn out rather than attempt to put it out. Last Cambridgeshire fire and rescue service said it expected the fire to continue burning for at least another week.

“The rubber had fused and sealed the surface but there are pockets of fire underneath that,” the county’s assistant chief fire officer Neil Newberry said this afternoon. “If we put water on, it will increase the smoke and the toxins will not be burned off.”

Mr Newberry added there were also fears water used to fight the fire would leach into groundwater. The site, on the A1101 Wisbech Road, is close to the Wildfowl and Wetland trust’s reserve at Welney Washes, the Hundred Foot and Delph .

Residents have been assured the smoke will not cause a long-term health risk. A leaflet explaining why the decision was taken to allow the fire to burn itself out is being delivered to neighbouring homes.

Tyres were shredded on the site and ground down into pellets, to be recycled into doormats and other household items.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known.

Denna Bowman, Head Office

As Force Indian won their first ever pole position through Giancarlo Fisichella, Jenson Button suffered his worst qualifying result so far this season.

The Brawn driver will start from 14^th position, but it wasn’t the infamous tyres problem them let him down.

Button said: “I didn’t it make because I wasn’t fast enough.  It’s going to make tomorrow very difficult.”

Beleaguered Button is still leading the title race by 18 points ahead of his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello – however the Brazilian will be looking to close the gap tomorrow when he starts the race in fourth place.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who was lucky to make it beyond the first round of qualifying, will will start tomorrow in 12th place.

Hirohide Hamashima, director of motorsport tyre development for Bridgestone, believes the teams tyre strategy tomorrow will play an important role.

He said: “The tyres are very close together on ultimate lap time, with the soft giving better grip, but the medium giving better stability.

“Just like Friday, we could not find any graining today and this means that both compounds are working well. Because of the close performance of the tyres we believe there will be a wide range of strategy possibilities for tomorrow’s race, and we will be interested to see what happens.”

Alex Kapadia, Operations Team

By Katherine Clarkson

An elderly motorist was left petrified after her car tyres were burst by a police stinger when she got caught up in a dramatic motorway pursuit. on the M6.

The woman, in her 60s, had her tyres punctured by the device and was then boxed in by three police cars near junction 31 of the M6 at Preston.

Officers had been pursuing a suspected stolen Peugeot 306 when the woman was inadvertently caught up in the drama.

She was so shaken that she had to be driven home to Coniston, Cumbria, according to the report in the Lancashire Evening Post.

The part-time shop assistant had been travelling through Lancashire on her way home from visiting her daughter in Cheshire when the incident happened last weekend. 

A work colleague of the woman said: “She was traumatised. She was literally shaking.  They punctured her tyres with a stinger and she got boxed in by three police cars.

“They had to bring her home to Coniston because she was too upset to drive.”

He said Highways Agency staff took the woman’s car to a garage to have the punctured tyres mended. The Peugeot 306 had been spotted being driven erratically on the Kendal bypass and failed to stop for police.

Cumbria officers pursued the car until Lancashire police took over.
A Lancashire police spokesman said: “A member of the public’s vehicle was accidentally stung.

“It’s not a common occurrence – a risk assessment will be carried out before a stinger is deployed.

“It’s something we regret and can only apologise for any upset. Our priority is public safety.”

The pursuit was called off when the 306 entered Deepdale, because there were too many pedestrians around. The car was later found abandoned after the offenders made off.