Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the number of vehicle accidents in (a) 2014, (b) 2015 and (c) 2016 that involved vehicles with tyres over 10 years old.

The Department for Transport has not made a specific assessment of the age of tyres fitted to vehicles involved in collisions. Official statistics indicate where, in the opinion of the attending police officer, a tyre was illegal, defective or under inflated and may have contributed to the accident. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 there were respectively 714, 598 and 550 collisions where tyres were considered to be a contributory factor.

The Department first issued guidance in 2013, which was subsequently updated, most recently in October 2016, recommending tyres over 10 years old should not be fitted to front steering axles, but only at the rear on twin wheels. A year after the guidance was published, a further survey of older PSVs was carried out by DVSA. This survey indicated a reduction in the average age of tyres fitted in the PSV fleet and demonstrated widespread compliance with the advice.