HiQ survey suggests illegal tyres are rising

A survey conducted by HiQ suggests that one in two British motorists are risking thousands of pounds’ worth of fines and potential driving bans by making journeys on dangerously worn tyres. 42 per cent of cars surveyed had at least one illegal tyre, with major areas of concern in the Birmingham, north east and Cheshire areas of the UK. The results are significantly up from HiQ’s last audit in 2009, when 27 per cent of motorists were driving on illegal tyres. HiQ’s retail development manager Farrell Dolan said that the results proved that despite years of highlighting the danger of bare, worn tyres, the safety message is still not getting through, saying that now the company will alter the tyre safety message it transmits to its customers.

Rather than talk only about the dangers of driving on tyres with a tread depth of less than 1.6mm, HiQ’s campaign is focused on explaining the three costs related to driving on illegal tyres:

“1.    One worn or defective tyre could cost you £2,500
2.    Two tyre lengths could be added to your stopping distance at 50mph in wet conditions
3.    Three points will be added to your license for each tyre with a tread depth less than 1.6mm”

The network says it is “investing heavily” in the campaign: it has created an SMS and email alert service for its customers to remind them about their tyre pressure levels, with more information available on its website. In addition, participating HiQ centres across the UK will be providing free tyre safety checks for motorists from now until the end of the year.

Dolan added: “We wanted to generate some hard hitting messages that motorists will take note of. To say we were shocked by our audit results is an understatement. We were staggered that thousands of motorists are sitting on an automotive time bomb.

“Some vehicles we checked had three or even four defective tyres, which would amount to 12 penalty points and up to £10,000 in fines. It is that serious.

“The prospect of penalty points to your licence, let alone the cost implications and safety element, is particularly strong and a fact that we hope will resonate with a number of people. The aim of this campaign is more than just getting people to change illegal tyres. We want it to have far more longevity than that, with messages that will stay with drivers for a long, long time.”

To supplement the campaign, every HiQ centre will be offering free tyre safety checks for the rest of the year, starting on 1 September with the “back to school” safety check programme. Recent research by the National Tyre Distributors Association figures show that of nearly 60,000 cars checked, 7,000 were being driven on at least one illegal tyre. The findings suggest that as many as 3.6 million cars in the UK could also be running on illegal tyres, if the figures were extrapolated across the population.

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