Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of goods vehicles which are taxed as private and not used commercially that could be affected by the ban on tyres aged 10 years and over.

The Government commissioned fundamental research to understand whether the material properties of a vehicle tyre change with its chronological age to such an extent that the integrity of the tyre, and therefore its safety, is compromised. 44 used tyres were selected as potential test samples, ranging from 3 to 19 years in age and originating from in-service use within the UK vehicle fleet. However, 18 of these tyres exhibited evidence of physical damage, under-inflation, penetrations or repairs and were rejected from the study. The remaining 26 tyres were included, alongside five new tyres for comparator purposes.

To limit the variability from differences in rubber compound, steel cords and construction, all the tyres selected were from the same manufacturer, and the same size and designated usage i.e. for front axles. However, three different tyre models were used, as no single model spanned the complete age range of the tyres selected for the study.