Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of part-worn tyres imported into the UK; and if he will make a statement.

The Department for Transport does not monitor the number of imported part-worn tyres and has made no estimate of the numbers entering the country.

Tyres used on light-duty vehicles must have a minimum tread depth of 1.6 mm through a continuous band across the central three-quarters of the tread width and around the whole circumference of the tyre. The value of 1.6 mm was introduced in 1992 following a review of the effectiveness of worn tyres in the context of safety performance; there are no plans to review this requirement. Part-worn tyres are required to exceed these safe limits, and to have a minimum of 2 mm tread depth across the whole tread width and around the whole circumference of the tyre.

The assessment of tyres during roadside inspection follows the guidance applied during the annual MOT test. The following table provides details on the total number of vehicles checked by the Department’s Agencies in each of the last three years, and the number which failed to meet the required standard for one or more tyres.

Tyre condition roadside assessment

Number of Vehicles checked and number of vehicles with one or more failure