12th November, 2020
10 Year Old Tyres Must be Scrapped – Now Law
Following the Government’s summer announcement that tyres over ten years old would no longer be fitted to certain vehicles, the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 have now made this change law.
These changes will come into effect from 1 February 2021, but operators should be aware of them now and start planning accordingly.
From 1 February 2021, it will be illegal to fit tyres (including re-treaded tyres) aged 10 years old or older to the front axles of coaches or buses (including minibuses). Where a minibus is fitted with a single rear wheel, this ban will also apply. In addition, the changes will apply to the front axles of goods vehicles with a maximum gross weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes.
It is important that operators are aware of these upcoming changes and plan accordingly. Failure to adhere to these new regulations could lead to regulatory action from the DVSA or a public inquiry at the Office of the Traffic Commissioner.
Before the changes come into force, operators should conduct checks of the tyres on all of their vehicles and replace as necessary. Where tyres do not yet meet the threshold for the ban, operators should diarise to replace these as required. Operators may find it useful to incorporate this in to their forward planning and checklists.
We also advise all operators to ensure that drivers are aware of this change and are trained to check the markings on their vehicle’s tyres as part of their daily checks.
While the ban only applies as set out above, it would be good practice to inspect with great care any tyre which is more than 10 years old and fitted to an excluded axle on a vehicle as a tyre failure on any axle can have significant adverse consequences.
If you require further advice in this regard, contact Tim Culpin, Head of Transport.
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Tim CulpinTransport Partner |
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