NTDA takes legal action on false membership claims

11 December 2018  

The NTDA is taking action against a number of UK tyre retailers who are falsely claiming to be members of the Association, are displaying the NTDA logo on their recovery vehicles, websites and marketing collateral, or who are advertising that repair work carried out at their tyre depots is carried out to “the NTDA standard”.

Logos denoting membership of, or approval by, an organisation such as a trade association, may be legitimately used by businesses. However, their misuse, deliberate or otherwise, can result in a commercial advantage, enabling work to be acquired unfairly, and constitutes a breach of UK law.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) specifically ban businesses from displaying any form of trust mark, quality mark or equivalent collective mark, if they are not authorised to do so.

Commenting on the situation NTDA Chief Executive Stefan Hay said: “The NTDA membership logo is a Patent Office / Intellectual Property Office registered collective trade mark across a number of classifications. We have been staggered by the blatant abuse of the logo and the associated claims being made by unscrupulous tyre retailers.”

Stefan added: “We have commenced action against a number of retailers. We hope that we will not have to further escalate matters, but will not hesitate to report these companies to Trading Standards with a view to pursuing full prosecution. We will not tolerate such companies bringing the NTDA and its legitimate members in to disrepute.”