Following the tremendous success of its current Tyre Technician Professional Development Scheme (TTPDS), which has seen more than 12,000 tyre technicians trained, assessed as competent and issued with a licence since 2014, the NTDA has launched a new licence specifically for mobile tyre technicians working on car and light vehicle tyres.
Speaking about the new licence, NTDA Chief Executive Stefan Hay said: “The team at Aylesbury began to notice from 2020 onwards, that many of the companies now applying for membership of the Association are mobile tyre fitting operations. In fact, 6 of the new members who’ve joined in the last 12 months are either exclusively, or primarily, mobile and many more membership enquiries from such companies are in the pipeline.
It is safe to say, that the Association is now getting as many enquiries from mobile companies as depot–based tyre retailers, which is understandable as customers love the convenience of having a tyre technician come to their home, place of work, or roadside to deal with a tyre problem, but also want the assurance that the technician is trained and fully competent. As a result, many mobile companies are enquiring with both the NTDA and our approved training providers regarding mobile tyre fitting for car and light vehicle training and licensing. On a number of occasions, the NTDA had been asked by such companies whether it would be possible to introduce a REACT compliant Licensed Mobile Tyre Technician card to complement the current suite of licences in the TTPDS – this new licence is our response.
Before taking this initiative further, the NTDA sought the views of the approved training providers on whether this was something they would support and also whether they currently run training programmes that would dovetail into such a licence. The response was very positive with the majority of training providers supporting the introduction of the new licence and stating that they already offered, or could offer, suitable courses to support the scheme.
Clearly, as with all courses leading to NTDA licences under the TTPDS, content is based on the relevant occupational standards and will cover, as a minimum:
•Tyre history and construction
•Sidewall markings and labelling
•Car and light vehicle wheels
•Tubes, valves and Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems
•Issues affecting tyre life and how to manage them
•Customer care
•Health & Safety at Work including safe working at the customer’s premises
•Mobile tyre fitting and balancing
•Minor tyre repairs in accordance with BS159g
•C&U regs
•Tyre damage and wear including how to inspect a tyre
•Roadside wheel changing procedure in line with REACT recommendations
In conclusion Stefan Hay said: “The NTDA membership has become a broad church. We have tyre retailers with national networks of fast fit branches, traditional independent family run tyre distributors, wholesalers and importers, mobile tyre fitting companies and an extensive supplier membership of tyre manufacturers, tyre collectors and re-processors, retreaders, repairers, automotive training providersand tools, equipment and consumables suppliers. Ensuring that we continue to represent the interests of the members and support the professional development of their employees is crucial to the future of the trade, especially at a time it faces such a desperate skills shortage. We hope, therefore, that uptake of the new licence will prove to be as popular as our current licensing schemes and that our mobile tyre fitting membership will continue to grow.
