Tyre aging Bill presented to House of Commons
The campaign for tighter laws on aged tyres has taken another step forward with the presentation of a Bill in the House of Commons calling for a maximum age limit for tyres fitted to public service vehicles. The Ten Minute Rule Bill was introduced by Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotherham yesterday, and although approval is by no means certain it achieves the important aim of increasing awareness of the dangers aged tyres can pose. Per the Bill, operating a public service vehicle with tyres that are ten or more years old would become an offence; this age limit would be enforced by Traffic Commissioners, and tyre age checked and recorded during the annual vehicle test. Rotherham also stated that the Bill would accommodate tyre manufacturers’ ongoing research, and the proposed maximum age limit could thus “easily be increased” should evidence verify that a newly-developed bus or coach tyre was “demonstrably safe” beyond ten years of age.