(Stoke-on-Trent – April 4, 2012) – Tyre experts Michelin and ATS Euromaster are teaming up with Eurotunnel Le Shuttle to ensure motorists heading to the continent this Easter reach their destinations safely.
Michelin’s ‘Fill up with Air’ roadshow will be at the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle terminal in Folkestone on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 April 2012, between 7am and 3.30pm, offering free tyre safety inspections for departing vehicles.
A seven-strong team of tyre specialists will be checking tread depths, pressures and inspecting tyres for potential safety hazards such as objects penetrating the tread and lumps, bulges, cracks or tears to the sidewalls. Plus for the first time, by teaming up with ATS Euromaster, the Fill up with Air roadshow will be offering on-site puncture repairs – free of charge.
Michelin’s Head of Communications, Phil Baldock, explains: “Every driver should check their tyres at least once a month and before any long journey, but in reality we know this often doesn’t happen. Our Fill up with Air roadshow is designed to educate motorists about the importance of tyre safety and to help get dangerous tyres off the road.
“The last thing holidaymakers want is a tyre failure bringing their travel plans crashing to a halt; particularly if they have a car full of excited kids and a boot jam-packed with luggage. Under these conditions weak or damaged tyres are more likely to fail, as they’ll be carrying a heavier load than normal. What’s more, if a car is travelling fully laden, tyre pressures must be increased in line with the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations.”
Chris Hufflett, Group Operations Director of ATS Euromaster, explains: “Nearly every car has two recommended pressure settings – one for ‘normal’ use and a higher figure for full loads. Driving a fully laden car on tyres inflated to the normal setting will compromise handling and mean stopping distances increase dramatically. It will also see tyre wear rise and punctures will be more likely.”
In 2011 the Fill up with Air roadshow toured more than 40 different sites in the UK between May and October – inspecting approximately 10,000 individual tyres. It found a shocking 39 per cent of motorists were driving on dangerous or very dangerously under-inflated tyres*, whilst 5 per cent were unaware of the fact they had a punctured tyre.
Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is proactively inviting motorists to visit the Fill up with Air roadshow this week via an email marketing campaign directly targeting travellers departing Folkestone at corresponding times.
Fill up with Air first visited the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle terminal during summer 2006 and has returned annually ever since. This marks the first occasion it has visited at Easter, following a special invitation from Eurotunnel Le Shuttle to hold an additional event due to strong customer feedback.
Harvey Alexander, Eurotunnel Sales and Marketing Director stated: “Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is delighted to team up once again with Michelin and to welcome ATS Euromaster to offer our departing customers another opportunity to check the safety of their tyres before leaving the UK. Safety is the utmost priority to EurotunnelLe Shuttle and we especially wanted to offer this popular and worthwhile safety initiative to the large numbers of customers departing during the peak Easter holiday period.”
