Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for the publication of the research he plans to commission into the safety implications of tyres on buses and coaches being more than 10 years old.

The Department for Transport is in the process of commissioning research to investigate how the properties of materials used in tyre construction change during a tyre’s life. The purpose of the research is to seek to understand what kind of relationship exists between the chronological age of a tyre and its structural integrity. The research will also consider other ageing effects such as those that occur due to tyre use and maintenance.

We expect the preliminary findings of the research to be available in the autumn of 2018, and would hope to publish a report by the end of the year. The research will address the current interest in bus and coach tyres but, should it produce strong evidence of risk, the findings may well be relevant to other heavy vehicles and possibly to vans and passenger cars.

The Department has made an appropriate budget available with which to undertake this research. The contract should be in place by the end of the year, and once it is finalised details will be listed on the Department for Transport’s website.