Running an older car often goes hand-in-hand with careful budgeting. Part-worn tyres can be a smart money-saver, but as trading standards teams continue to discover and report, there is a pronounced risk for such customers.
During a Tyre Safety Month campaign in October of last year, 99 per cent of distributors investigated by trading standards and UK charity TyreSafe were found to be supplying tyres unsafe for the road. Since then, more have been discovered, but this is still not anywhere near covering the whole marketplace.
Trading standards authorities do have powers to reprimand negligent dealers and remove unsafe tyres from circulation. In December 2018, North Ayrshire officers imposed a 120-hour Community Payback Order to the owner of one shop that was selling tyres with an 80mm nail through a sidewall and socket embedded in the tread. Others elsewhere in the country have been fined thousands of pounds for similar violations. Of all the part-worn tyres inspected by trading standards, 60 per cent are found to be unsafe and removed, but Stuart Jackson, Chairman of TyreSafe, stresses that this isn’t a campaign for the outright banning of such products, rather one for awareness and extra consideration.
You can find out more about tyre risk at the charity TyreSafe’s website, www.tyresafe.org, while business advice can be sought from your local Trading Standards office.
