“Worn-out tyres being regrooved”

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32788, 13 December 1971, Page 2

“Worn-out tyres being regrooved”

The potentially-dangerous practice of regrooving worn-out tyres was becoming more prevalent because riders of some motor-cycles, scooters and mopeds were unable to obtain new tyres for their machines, the motor-cycle representative on the New Zealand Road Safety Council, Mr T. R. McCleary, sen., of Chrischurch, said yesterday.

A life member of the New Zealand Auto Cycle Union, Mr McCleary was commenting on the statement of the New Zealand Rubber Manufacturers’ Association’s secretary (Mr L. V. Phillips) that it was “utter nonsense” to suggest there was any possibility of a tyre crisis in New Zealand.

“I was shocked to read Mr Phillips’s comments in Saturday’s issue of “The Press,” he said. “His reply to an earlier claim by the executive director of the Retail Motor Trade Association (Mr C. F. Stone) that there was a drastic shortage of certain types of tyres, including motor-cycle tyres, gave entirely the wrong impression. “Certain sizes of motorcycle, scooter and powercycle tyres and tubes are virtually impossible to obtain because the rights to their manufacture are held in New Zealand,” Mr McCleary said. “Import licences are not available for these in order that New Zealand manufacturers have protection.” Supply a “dribble” “I and others have approached the Department of Industries and Commerce about these shortages, and, generally, as a result, a dribble of New Zealandmade tyres and tubes comes forward. The tyre companies’s representatives say the factories are fully engaged in the manufacture of other sizes.

.“Riders of machines with less than the statutory depth of tread required for warrants of fitness are placed

| in an invidious position. I Being unable to obtain . replacement tyres, they ate issued, through the courtesy of the Ministry of Transport vehicle inspectors, with r warrants of fitness on the > production of statements by , retailers that their particular sizes of tyre are unobtain- * able and that tyres have i been ordered and will be i fitted when they come to , hand,” said Mr McCleary. I "Unfortunately, this cour- ' tesy is not always extended ' by the enforcement officers, and, as a result, riders have ' been prosecuted for operating a vehicle with less than ' the required depth of tread. ' A potentiaily-dangerous prac- , tice has crept in, where, when unable to purchase a ‘new tyre, a rider has his ; already thin tyre regrooved. This is discouraged by the New Zealand Road Safety Council. “Mr Phillips, instead of making the ridiculous state- . ment that there was not a drastic shortage of motorcycle, scooter and powercycle tyres and tubes, should advise the manufacturers to notify the Department of Industries and Commerce that they were no longer interested in making these tyres and tubes. "This would allow importers to bring in these protected sizes, thus making the roads safer for those curI rently using regrooved or

bald tyres with patched tubes," said Mr McCleary.