Blackcircles Nominated for Business Awards
Michelin Powers Ahead in First Half
Roadside Check Reveals Improvements in Illegal Tyres in Lincolnshire
Environment Agency Report Praises Environmentally Friendly Retreads
Hertfordshire Tyre Dealership Holds Charity Golf Day
Michelin Partnership Increases Tyre Recycling

Blackcircles Nominated for Business Awards

Blackcircles Ltd, the Peebles based tyre retailer, which operates the tyre sales function on the Tyres-Online website, is among 70 finalists competing for Scotland's top business accolades in the National Business Awards for Scotland.

Blackcircles has been nominated in two of the 14 award categories. Firstly, the company is one of five nominees for the "E-Business Strategy of the Year Award". Secondly, Blackcircles Managing Director, Michael Welch, pictured here, has been nominated for the "Entrepreneur of the Year Award". The awards will be presented at an awards ceremony held at the Glasgow Hilton on 9 September. Blackcircles can be visited at www.blackcircles.com

Michelin Powers Ahead in First Half

Michelin has announced its first-half 2004 results, which show significant sales improvements in all sectors. The company achieved an overall 6.4% growth in net including 2.9% in the passenger car/light truck market and 9.1% in the truck sector. Other businesses contributed a solid 13.5% growth. In Europe passenger car/light truck sales volumes in the replacement market grew 6.1% whilst original equipment sales advanced 3.3%.

Truck tyre sales of replacement tyres grew by 2.8% in Europe and 5.3% in North America but the OE markets saw a very substantial improvement over the same period 2003 with European sales to truck manufacturers advancing 11.1% whilst in the States a massive 32.6% growth was delivered. This, says Michelin, reflects the long anticipated replacement of prime movers and trailers, a market in the US that collapsed in 2000 and has only now returned with operator confidence.

Passenger tyre sales growth in Eastern Europe and Asia met expectations especially in China where sales showed double-digit growth. However in the truck market the Chinese Government introduced measures to cool the economy, which hindered replacement sales in the second quarter. Speciality tyres such as agricultural, aircraft, earthmover and two-wheel all saw healthy sales growth.

Michelin expects the exceptional market drivers of the first half-year to settle progressively to their annual long-term 2%-3% growth trend. Against this operating background, Michelin confirms that it is poised to post visible improvements in its operational performance for the full year 2004.

Roadside Check Reveals Improvements in Illegal Tyres in Lincolnshire

A roadside tyre check initiative arranged by Lincolnshire Police and supported by the Tyre Industry Council has revealed that 6% of vehicles stopped had at least one tyre at or below 1.6mm - the national average is 11%. The last time this type of check was carried out in Lincolnshire was in 2001 where the number of illegal tyres was 8%. The survey also revealed that the number of vehicles with at least one badly worn tyre i.e between 1.7mm and 2mm was 10.2%.

A worrying aspect of the check, which took place at various locations throughout the county, was that only 29% of drivers knew that the legal minimum was 1.6mm.

Inspector Jon Morris, Head of Casualty Reduction - Lincolnshire Police said, "A significant part of our continuing education and enforcement campaign to reduce casualties incorporates targeting identified problem areas, such as defective tyres.

"It is, therefore, encouraging to note that of the drivers stopped throughout Lincolnshire, less and less have un-roadworthy tyres. "Whilst driving, vehicle maintenance is so important that it can often contribute to what occurs in life and death situations. Drivers need to know that their vehicle can respond appropriately and that they are not going to be a danger to themselves and others.

"Tyre education will continue in this county and we will strive to increase the safety of everyone using this county's road network."

Environment Agency Report Praises Environmentally Friendly Retreads

A Technical Report by the Environment Agency has provided a promotional boost to the tyre retreading industry by emphasising the environmentally friendly credentials of retreaded tyres for passenger vehicles. The report, entitled "Life Cycle Assessment of the Management Options for Waste Tyres" considered the management of used car tyres in the UK, the aim being to compare the different waste management options for car tyres and to evaluate the environmental advantages and disadvantages of each option.

In addition to retreading, systems studied in the report were export for reuse, reuse in seas defences and drainage applications, recycling to rubber crumb, combustion in cement kilns, pyrolysis, gasification and microwave technology

The report studies the effects of the various disposal systems on eight environmental impact categories, these being:

• abiotic depletion potential (the extraction of non-renewable reserves, particularly minerals and fossil fuels)
• acidification potential (contribution to acid deposition onto soil and into water)
• aquatic/terrestrial ecotoxicity ( Contribution to health effects in flora and fauna)
• global warming potential
• human toxicity (contribution to health effects in humans)
• eutrophication (contribution to reduction of oxygen concentration in water and soil)
• ozone depletion potential
• photochemical oxidant creation potential (contribution to formation of atmospheric aerosol particles forming a petrochemical smog)

Retreading achieved the best scores in six out of the eight categories. Results showed that retreading has the least environmental impact of all the tyre disposal systems studied in terms of abiotic depletion, global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication and aquatic/terrestrial ecotoxicity as well as being the equal best option together with cement kilns in the acidification category.

In addition to confirming the environmentally friendly nature of retreads, the report also notes the fact that retreads now have to be approved to ECE regulations 108 and 109, thereby demonstrating the same safety standards as new tyres. As a result the report draws the conclusion that this requirement would ensure that the performance of retreads is the same as new tyres.

Sheila Ikin, Director of the Retread Manufacturers Association commented; "We are delighted with the results of this study by the Environment Agency, which provides a further argument in favour of the case that retreading should be considered as the Best Practical Environmental Option. We hope that this report will be the impetus for the general public as well as decision makers in both public and private sectors to take a closer look at the ecological benefits of retreaded tyres".

People wishing to find out more about retreaded tyres can do so by visiting the RMA website at www.greentyres.com where a full list of members of the RMA's Green Dealer Scheme for stockists of retread tyres can be found. Alternatively, call the RMA direct on 01782 417777.

Hertfordshire Tyre Dealership Holds Charity Golf Day

Hertfordshire First Stop tyre dealership Pan Autos thanked its customers for their support throughout the year and raised money for a good cause at the same time by holding a charity golf day. Approximately 50 golfers took part in the annual Pan Autos tournament held at Harpenden Golf Club. A further 30 people joined them at a special fund-raising dinner at the club in the evening, helping to raise more than £3,000 for charity HEART UK.

"We held our first golf day a decade ago to thank customers for their support and to celebrate ten years in business," said John Tarbox, owner of Pan Autos. "Ten years on, the event is still very popular with our customers and is a great way to raise money for good causes."

Michelin Partnership Increases Tyre Recycling

Michelin's commitment to protecting the environment continues to grow with the news that Michelin partner, Charles Lawrence International (CLI) is increasing consumption of end-of-life truck tyre casings which it turns into useful granulated product.

CLI's sister company, Playtop Ltd - also CLI's major customer for granulated tyres - has recently expanded their worldwide network of licensees. This has increased business and triggered a steep rise in demand for tyre granulate. Michelin's Remix remoulding process extends the life of truck tyre casing and the Michelin Encore process further enhances casing life, but there comes a time when the truck tyre casing has out lived it's usage.

The French tyre manufacturer's policy of avoiding landfill for used tyres (granulated or otherwise) has led to the development of the partnership with Newark-based CLI. The Notts specialists, who also design and build tyre shredders and granulators, use the granulate to produce athletics tracks, children's playground surfaces and sports facilities among others. Playtop is installed under license in a wide range of countries including Bahrain, Belgium, Channel Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the UAE.

The Playtop product specification requires a certain type and size of tyre granulate for the base material which can only be obtained from commercial vehicle tyres such as those provided by Michelin.