Tyre Position Serious—Drastic New Measures Foreshadowed
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'WARNING that if the country's VY rubber consumption was to continue at the present rate Britain might be faced with a complete standstill of its road-transport services was given by the North-Eastern Transport Commissioner, Major F. S. Eastwood, at a Halifax meeting of tyre users last Sunday, when he foreshadowed new and drastic measures to conserve rubber supplies. The meeting, under the auspices of the Ministry of Supply's Rubber Control and the Ministry of War Transport, was also addressed by Mr. R. P. Roche, Regional Tyre Officer, who gave advice on how to minimize tyre wear.
Major Eastwood said that the position was so serious that all passenger road services were to be cut to the bone. Similarly, goods-transport services would also have to be reduced, and he was afraid that this might entail a great reduction in the number of vehicles operated. An official announcement on that would be made in the course of the next week or so.
Emphasizing the need for the utmost care and economy in the use of tyres, Major Eastwood said that the average mileage life of certain sizes of tyre in popular use to-day was 16' to 20 per cent, below the pre-war average. That, of course, was largely due to war-time conditions—but it was also partly due to insufficient care.
The operator who ran his tyres " to death," with the result that they could not be remoulded or retreaded, would be guilty of sabotaging road-transport's part in the war effort, and the Commissioner made it known that any such operator would receive no help from him in any trouble which resulted from such conduct.
It was essential, said the Commissioner, that drivers he impressed with the urgent importance of tyre conservation. They should be warned that if ' they did not look after their tyre covers this year there would be none for their lorries next year, with the result that their vehicles Would not require drivers.
Mr. Roche emphasized his plea for more careful use of tyres by stating that out of all the tyres which operators in the north-eastern region were handing in after use. barely 38 per cent.
were fit for retreading. That percentage, he suggested, could be lifted considerably. Many of these tyres had been run too far simply because operators had not applied for replacements until the last moment. As all tyre authorizations were valid for two months from the date of issue, there was absolutely no excuse for that.
In discussing various aspects of tyre care, Mr. Roche said inflation still represented 75 per cent. of -tyre maintenance.
Replying to a suggestion tha. pamphlets should be issued to give guidance to operators and their drivers on tyre-maintenance points, Mr. Roche _said that, at the moment, the Ministry of Supply had under consideration a comprehensive policy of propaganda ' and education.
Proposing a vote of thanks to Major Eastwood and Mr. Roche, Councillor Charles Holdsworth said that never before had he heard the seriousness of the tyre position put before tyre users so emphatically.
No user should lose a moment in putting before his transport emPloyees the urgent need for tyrerconservation, and giving them instruction in tyre care. In this connection our new series of articles, entitled "How Tyre Mileage is Wasted," should be of the utmost service and all operators should closely follow the advice of the expert who is writing them and see that they are brought to the notice of their employees.