Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing legislation in ensuring coaches are fitted with tyres and wheels that are safe and do not expose passengers to undue risk of harm.

The United Kingdom has some of the safest roads in the world. Statistics show that, on a mile for mile basis, buses and coaches are more than six times safer than passenger cars.

Legislation is already in place governing the approval of new vehicles and their components, the authorisation of vehicle operators and the regular inspection and maintenance of vehicles to ensure their roadworthiness. The Department for Transport has commissioned new research that is investigating the effect of age on the integrity of coach tyres and this will be used to inform policy. A decision on whether to review the legislation on tyres will be taken once the findings of the research are available.

In the meantime, and on a precautionary basis, the Department for Transport has issued guidance to every bus and coach operator in Great Britain that tyres aged 10-years or more should not be used on the front axle of a bus or a coach. The evidence so far has been that this highly effective.