Modern slavery statement

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes a number of forms — slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour, debt bondage and human trafficking — all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for commercial or personal gain.

G B Tyres (UK) Ltd is committed to acting ethically and with integrity in our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to make sure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in our supply chains.

This statement relates to the financial year ending 31 August 2025.

G B Tyres (UK) Ltd is a tyre wholesaler supplying the UK trade. We are registered in England and Wales under company number 07747704, at GB House, Black Lake, West Bromwich, B70 0FS.

The business was established in 2011, moved into tyre retail in 2013 and into wholesale in 2018. We employ 126 people, and operate 91,000 m² of warehousing across England with depots at Oldbury, Falkirk and Bury St Edmunds. We hold over 220,000 tyres across more than 6,000 product lines, and operate our own delivery fleet, which carries around 90% of our deliveries.

We sell to businesses: tyre dealers, fast-fits, agricultural dealers, plant hire companies, fleet operators and export customers. We do not sell to consumers and we do not fit tyres for end users.

Our supply chain has three parts, and the risks in each are different.

Manufactured goods. We import approximately 3,600 containers of tyres a year. Manufacture is concentrated in India, Vietnam, Thailand and China, alongside supply from European and other international manufacturers of the premium brands we stock. Two brands, Aerotyre and Challenger, are our own: they are made to our specification in Thailand and India respectively, which gives us a more direct relationship with those factories than we have with a brand owner’s distributor.

Tyre manufacture itself is capital-intensive and largely mechanised, which lowers some risks. The material risks sit further back — in natural rubber production, where smallholder farming and seasonal tapping labour are common, and in synthetic rubber and carbon black feedstocks — and in the labour used around the factory rather than in it: contract labour, loading, warehousing and site services.

Logistics. Ocean freight, port handling, customs clearance, haulage and warehousing between the factory gate and our depots. Seafaring and port labour and subcontracted road haulage are recognised risk areas internationally.

Goods and services bought in the UK. Agency and temporary warehouse labour, cleaning, security, maintenance, waste collection and construction work on our sites. In the UK, labour exploitation is more likely to be found in agency and subcontracted labour of this kind than in directly employed staff, and it is the area a business of our size has the most direct control over.

We assess risk by reference to the country of manufacture, the nature of the work, and how far a supplier sits from our direct relationship. On that basis we regard our highest-risk areas as: raw material production upstream of our tier one manufacturers; contract and agency labour at overseas manufacturing sites; and agency labour, cleaning, security and construction services at our own UK sites.

We regard our directly employed workforce as low risk. All employees are recruited directly, hold a written contract of employment, are paid at or above the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, and have their right to work in the UK verified before they start.

We expect every supplier to us, and every one of their suppliers, to:

• Comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and with the equivalent law in their own country
• Employ no forced, bonded, indentured or involuntary prison labour, and no child labour
• Ensure that all work is voluntary, and that workers are free to leave employment on reasonable notice
• Not retain workers’ identity documents, passports or deposits as a condition of employment
• Not charge recruitment fees to workers, directly or through an agent
• Pay at least the legal minimum wage, on time, and provide a written statement of pay
• Respect legal limits on working hours, and provide rest days
• Provide safe working conditions
• Allow freedom of association and access to a grievance procedure
• Apply these standards to their own suppliers and subcontractors, and be able to demonstrate that they do
• Co-operate with any enquiry, audit or request for information we make about these matters

These expectations are communicated to suppliers when a trading relationship is opened and are referenced in our purchase terms.

Our due diligence is proportionate to the risk: most of our supply chain risk sits in tyre manufacturing overseas, and the domestic risk sits in warehouse and driving labour.

• Supplier onboarding. New manufacturing suppliers are assessed before we place business with them, including their approach to labour standards.
• Direct relationships. Our own-brand production gives us a direct relationship with the factories concerned, and our buying team visits manufacturing sites. Direct contact is the most reliable form of due diligence available to a business of our size.
• Contractual terms. Modern slavery obligations, a right to audit and a right to terminate for breach are included in our supply agreements.
• Agency labour. UK labour providers are checked for compliance, including Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority licensing where the sector requires it.
• Right to work. Documents are checked for every employee before they start.
• Payment. All employees are paid directly into a bank account in their own name, which makes several common exploitation patterns harder to conceal.
• Reporting. Concerns can be raised with any director, or in confidence by email to sales@gbtyres.net marked for the attention of the Managing Director. Reports are treated in confidence and nobody who raises a concern in good faith will suffer for it.

Directors, purchasing staff and the managers responsible for warehouse and agency labour are briefed on the indicators of labour exploitation and on how to raise a concern. We review this briefing annually and extend it to new staff in those roles as part of their induction.

We will report against the following each year: the proportion of manufacturing suppliers who have confirmed our supplier expectations in writing; the number of supplier factory visits made; the proportion of relevant staff briefed; and the number of concerns raised and how each was resolved. In the year covered by this statement no concerns were raised.

We have not identified any instance of modern slavery in our business or supply chain. We recognise that this does not eliminate the risk and that a complex international supply chain requires ongoing assessment.

Our work focuses on our workforce, UK contractors and agency labour, and the factories we deal with directly, including those producing our own brands. We aim to strengthen the reach of this work year on year.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 August 2025.

It was approved by the board of G B Tyres (UK) Ltd and is signed on its behalf by the Managing Director.

Version 1.0 · Last reviewed: 5 September 2026.