ATS urges van fleets to establish tyre policies

Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2014 | Author: James Dallas

ATS Euromaster is encouraging van fleet operators to establish a formal tyre policy in order to boost efficiencies and cut costs.

Simon Tattersall, national fleet manager, said the van market was booming as the concept of delivering goods to customers’ doors, rather than to a central store, gathered momentum on the back of the rise in dotcom shopping and supermarket food deliveries and warned operators not to neglect tyres.

He stressed operators should not treat tyres as an after thought or low cost option and said managing a van fleet should be similar to managing a fleet of HGVs.

A recent survey by the Freight Transport Association in conjunction with ATS found that a third of firms operating LCVs do not have a tyre policy in place.

“We are capable and geared up to service van fleets,” said Tattersall, “our business is to provide service and tyres to the customer.”

He said fleets without a tyre policy risked paying more as standardising on one brand could result in larger discounts and added a managed policy would reduce running costs in maximising longevity, performance and fuel efficiency as well as improving safety.

“Tyres can be expensive if the wrong decision is made so you must select the correct make and type,” Tattersall said.

He emphasised that large van fleet operators must adhere to health and safety laws and should adopt the preventative maintenance practices of HGVs.

He said ATS’s Fleet Sure electronic inspection tool would enable them to identify problems, plan the replacement of worn tyres and provide proof of inspections as mitigation in the event of accidents.

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