TYRE and autoservice specialist Merityre has been shortlisted for a prestigious industry award.

The tyre specialist, which has its headquarters in Andover, is again hoping for a win this year at the National Tyre Distributors Associations awards (NTDAs).

The company, which has 24 locations across the south of England, last year picked up two awards at the NTDAs, including the Medium Tyre Retailer of the Year and the overall Tyre Retailer of the Year awards.

This year they have been shortlisted for Staff Training and Development Initiative of the Year for their work in the support and development for their employees through City and Guilds and subsequent NVQs, along with new training initiatives developed over the past three years.

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Training manager Chris Exell said: “Internal training is always conducted for inducting new employees when they first join the company, on a one-to-one basis and from day one of their employment. This is then always followed by training with City and Guilds, and NVQs - along with continued training the longer they are with us.

"But with Covid, lockdowns and furlough, this has become more prevalent and important to us. We identified four key activities that we wanted to focus on and created a series of videos, so all staff have access to them. These have been safe jacking of a vehicle, use of a tyre changer, use of a wheel balancer and puncture repairs. Being able to easily communicate these to all staff has been crucial to the running of a safe and successful company."

The event will be attended by some of the biggest retailers in the industry, along with several family run businesses and international tyre and equipment manufacturers.

The award winners will be announced at the NTDA awards ceremony on Thursday, 6th October in Birmingham.

For more details merityre.co.uk