Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's policy on serving advisory notices on tyres found to be in a dangerous condition but which are not illegal at MOT examinations; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to improving road safety, and ensuring the compliance of vehicles with safety regulations is important to reducing collisions and casualties.

The condition of tyres is checked at the annual roadworthiness inspection and if they do not meet the standards the vehicle will fail. Advisory notices are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s assessors as part of a heavy vehicle annual test, and by MOT testers as to items the driver should monitor.

The Department for Transport will consult on requirements for a maximum age for tyres on heavy goods vehicles, buses, coaches and minibuses, and how to enforce these new requirements will be considered as part of this process.

In September 2017, a heavy goods vehicle travelling on the M5 suffered a tyre blow-out and crossed the central reservation and collided with oncoming traffic. At the recent Coroner’s inquest independent experts testified that the age of the tyre was a factor. Their analysis fits with the Department’s own emerging body of evidence.