TYRES
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Casings to USA
IT IS commonly known that there is a shortage of suitable quality truck tyre casings available for retreading. The Malaysian Rubber Research and Development Board has recently published sonic statistics that go further into the subject. It explains that UK casings are being exported to the USA.
"United States retreaders have recently been heavily dependent on imported casings from the UK and Europe," says the MRRDB. The weakness of the pound against the dollar in die last few years has effectively made UK casings cheaper for the Americans.
Also, energy saving has been in vogue in the USA since the late seventies and retreaders over there received a boost in the form of tax incentives, increasing their hunger for more casings.
Finally, radial tyre casings make better retreads than cross-ply casings. Whereas radials have around 90 per cent of the new UK truck tyre market, in the USA this proportion is nearer 50 per cent — hence the American demand for our casings.
Avon standard
AVON TYRES has become the first tyre company to be granted registration under the British Standards Institution's • individual firm registration scheme.
Following an inspection at Avon's Melksham factory by the BSI Avon has been awarded the quality control standard ES 5750 Part One. This means that it joins the companies in the Department of Trade and Industry's Register of Quality Assessed UK Companies.
National Linkline
NATIONAL TYRE Service has introduced a Linkline service to speed up the handling of roadside breakdown calls.
Drivers can dial the new Linkline number (0800 424555) free of charge and get straight through to a central breakdown control centre manned 24 hours a day.
National Tyre Service says this is quicker than the previous Freelone system that had to go through the British Telecom operator. The Linkline number is already operational but until the end of June the Freefone system will still he maintained, giving transport operators the time to issue new tyre breakdown instruction books.