Ban on tyres over 10 years old for heavy vehicles and some minibusses

2021 brings more changes to rules and regulations around tyres and vehicles. On July 15th 2020, the government announced that as of February 1st 2021, it will now be illegal to have tyres fitted to the front axle of lorries, buses and coaches that are 10 years old or older. It will also be illegal to fit tyres 10 years or older to; 

• The front axle of a goods vehicle with a maximum gross weight exceeding 3500 kg 
• The front axle of a bus or minibus (9-16 passengers) 
• The rear axle of a minibus with single rear fitted wheels. 

HGV’s and heavy vehicles must pass the annual DSVA enforcement checks, where no tyre older than 10 years of age is fitted. If the vehicles fails this check, the tyres will be considered dangerous and be marked ‘S’ with an immediate prohibition notice. This prohibition notice will adversely affect your OCRS score, lead to the DSVA investigation, and can be at risk of being passed as a public inquiry before the traffic commissioner for consideration of action against your operator’s licence. 

It will also become mandatory law that the manufacturer’s date code must be legible on the side of the tyre on your lorry, bus or coach. If a tyre is re-treated, the manufacturer date is taken from when the retreat was carried out. 

It is important that all operators carry out audits on their vehicles, including any spare tyres. This is to ensure before driving, and before the inspection that all tyres are legal and aged lower than 10 years old. Making drivers and staff members aware of these new regulations is imperative to ensure safe and law-abiding vehicles are the only ones out on the roads. 

If you are unsure of any of the new regulations coming into force on February 1st 2021, all the information you need is on the government website.