90 percent of part-worn tyres are illegal

ERJ staff report (DS)

Birmingham, UK -- Nine out of ten part-worn tyres failed to meet the minimum legal standards in an investigation by Birmingham Trading Standards. Among the failures were tyres which had nails embedded, illegal tread depth, exposed cords, inadequate markings and one tyre which was 17 years old.

The investigation comes just weeks after TyreSafe found that more than one in ten drivers is more likely to buy part worn tyres compared with 12 months ago.

The investigation formed part of an ongoing programme by Birmingham City Council to tackle the problem of part worn tyres. This year was its ninth annual investigation and saw it buy ten tyres from retailers across the city. Over the course of the entire programme, the team bought and tested more than 190 part worn tyres with 25 percent found to have some form of structural defect. In this year's survey 30 percent of tyres had structural failings including illegal tread depth and a nail embedded in the casing while 90 percent did not have the correct markings required by law, which identify them as a part worn tyre.

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Press release from Tyresafe