NEWS

The Tyre Wholesalers Group AGM and Annual Lunch, to be held at the Hilton Metropole Birmingham NEC on the 5th of October, is set to be one of the best attended events in recent years.

Twenty representatives from across eleven member companies have already confirmed attendance at the AGM and will be joined for the group’s Annual Lunch by more than thirty senior level guests from tyre manufacturing, together with the Executive Officers of the NTDA and the trade press.

Speaking about the event, the NTDA’s Chief Executive Stefan Hay said: “We believe that one of the reasons for this fantastic interest is the fact that we have moved the lunch to the day before the Tyre Industry Conference and NTDA Annual Dinner, which will be held at the VOX, also on the NEC site. All TWG members are eligible and welcome to attend and the lunch has always

TWG

Following a successful 2016 show, Yokohama confirmed as an exhibitor for

Reifen Birmingham 2017

NTDA delighted by 2016 confirmedTWG AGM & Lunch attendance

been a great opportunity for those members to catch up and network with friends and colleagues from the manufacturing sector”.

One of the guest speakers at the lunch is Simon Albert, Event Director of Automechanika and Reifen Birmingham 2017, who will be presenting the organiser’s exciting plans to work in partnership with the NTDA to make the show the leading event for the UK tyre industry.

The TWG Chairman John Parker of Kirby Tyres will be giving his usual annual chairman’s address on the state of the wholesale market.

TWG members who have not yet confirmed their attendance, but who would like to come to the AGM and Annual Lunch should book with NTDA Membership Secretary Alison Keitch via alisonkeitch@ntda.co.uk

More than 12,000 people attended the showover 3 days in 2016

Automechanika & Reifen Birmingham 2017

Continuing with the aforementioned Automechanika and Reifen Birmingham 2017, the NTDA is delighted to report that many of its members from the auto-care aftermarket and supplier sectors have already booked their stands for the event which will be held at the NEC from 6 - 8 June 2017.

Members that have already booked include: Autogem Invicta, Bartec Auto, Hamaton, MAM Software, Rema Tip Top, Smithers Rapra, Tyre Bay Direct and Yokohama. What is even more encouraging is the ever increasing number of tyre wholesalers and manufacturers that have expressed an interest and who have now reserved stands.

Stefan Hay said: “The NTDA is now being promoted as the official partner for Reifen Birmingham and naturally we would like as many tyre wholesalers, tyre manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers as possible to exhibit at these co-habiting shows which we believe will become the UK’s leading tyre industry networking event. We will also be holding the NTDA Executive Council and AGM at the NEC during the event on 7th June allowing the Executive Officers to attend the show in the afternoon”.

The NTDA will be actively promoting every member company that books a stand via all of its social media platforms and a special show feature will be included in the 2017 NTDA Tyre Industry Directory.

www.ntda.co.uk NEWS

NTDA extremely disappointed by Trailblazer Apprenticeship standard rejection

In the August NTDA News, the Association announced its total support for the proposed project to develop a new apprenticeship standard in the occupation of ‘Vehicle Repair Technician’, with a specific emphasis on the requirements of our Tyre Technicians.

Unfortunately, the initial proposal has been rejected by (BIS) the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (which was replaced by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in July 2016), primarily because it perceives that there is too much of an overlap with an existing apprenticeship scheme, developed by a leading vehicle manufacturer despite the fact that the project group has shown, that the existing scheme does not meet the requirements of the tyre and auto-care aftermarket sectors.

BIS has suggest that if it is still believed that our sector genuinely requires a different standard it needs to submit a revised expression of interest by 29th September 2016 and the project group is now working on that revised submission.

As more communication from Government regarding the Apprentice Levy and funding rates emerges, the need for a suitable standard becomes more and more important. All members will be affected by the levy and with no suitable standard in place, will not have a mechanism to claim back their levy payments to deliver effective Apprenticeships for their businesses and the sector as a whole.

It is blatantly clear, that the current trailblazer cannot represent our sector as it is led, largely, by a group of motor manufacturers and franchised networks. We must therefore continue in our efforts to push BIS for our own standard and do everything we can to support the project group led by Paul Binks, Head of Learning and Development at Kwik-Fit GB Ltd, and ensure our sector and businesses can continue to offer the Apprenticeships we need.

Members wishing to pledge their support to this project should contact Stefan Hay via stefanhay@ntda.co.uk

The VOX Conference Centre venue for the 2016 Conference sponsored by Avon Tyres

The countdown begins – don’t miss out on the NTDA Tyre Industry Conference!

Close to 200 delegates from the tyre manufacturing, wholesale, retail and wider auto-care aftermarket sectors have now booked to attend the NTDA Tyre Industry Conference 2016 sponsored by Avon Tyres.

The conference, which is free to members, sponsors, industry partners and their guests, is a fantastic networking event featuring an outstanding line up of tyre industry and wider business speakers, Q&A sessions, an exhibition area with stands from Avon Tyres, consumer safety charity TyreSafe, insurance company Jelf Beaumont, pension company BlueSky pensions, Tyres and Accessories, Scots Auto Scene, SingEx (Organiser of Tyrexpo 2017), Automechanika (Organiser of Automechanika & Reifen Birmingham 2017) and Sigmavision.

Delegates will also receive a free delegate’s pack, buffet lunch and parking, so don’t miss out and book today. Bookings can be made with Membership Manager Alison Fitzgerald via alisonfitzgerald@ntda.co.uk