In July 2020 Roads Minister Baroness Vere announced that tyres aged 10 years and older will be banned from being fitted to the front wheels of lorries, buses and coaches on roads in the UK to improve road safety.
Alongside fitting tyres of 10 years or older additional details will be published about the re-treading of tyres. When the changes come into affect in Feb 2021 the tyres will need to display either the manufacture date of the re-treading date.
Roads Minister Baroness Vere said:
In the same way that you wouldn’t drive a car with faulty brakes, ensuring your tyres are fit for purpose is crucial in making every journey safer.
Drivers are ultimately responsible for the vehicle they are driving. But it will be an impact on owners and operators of vehicles to ensure compliance with the new requirements. The rules will be enforced in regard to our Land Rovers at the annual MOT.
How do the rules affect Land Rover Owners?
According to LRO the new rules that will come into affect in Feb 2021 capture our 9 seater plus vehicles. In their article they state;
LRO has checked with DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) who have confirmed that 10- and 12-seater Land Rovers do meet the definition of minibus.
The new rules do not apply to vehicles over 40 years old which are used for non-commercial purposes, but 10+ seat long wheelbase (109-inch, One Ten and 110) station wagon models from late Series III through to 2007 – when the rules regarding forward-facing seats were introduced – could fall foul of the rules.
In reality your tyres are an extremely important part of the vehicle and one that needs attention. The recent studies and the lessons learned from accidents goes a long way into explaining that the age and degradation of the rubber and possible rust and corrosion of internal materials used to strengthen tyres cannot be seen making older tyres potentially more susceptible to fatigue and failure.
As a matter of course even if your tyres look great it is worth getting them checked and assessed by a professional.
Does the age of Tyres matter?
If we start but considering that it is the tyres that are the contact point with the road and responsible for not only steering, motion but also braking they are essential safety equipment.
Within the tyre industry the adopted German BRV standard considers tyres to be “new” and fit for retail up to 5 years from the date of production and they recommended tyres are replaced when they reach 7 – 10 years old regardless of visual inspection 0r 6 years in the case of caravans or trailers and tyres that run higher pressures in the 50psi range.
How to tell the age of your tyres?
Since 2000 tyres have been stamped with a DOT code which includes a date section. The date is the last 4 numbers in the sequence.
The numbers are easy to work out. The first two numbers are the week of manufacture and the last two numbers are the year of manufacture.
The numbers stamped on the tyre shows 4308. This translates to week 43 and year 2008.
Key Rules
- tyres aged 10 years and older to be banned to help improve road safety
- clearly visible date of manufacture mandatory on each tyre, ensuring older tyres are easy to spot
At AB4x4s we supply and fit a range of tyres for Land Rovers and we aim to match any like for like pricing.
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Sources
Government response to the consultation to ban tyres aged 10 years or older – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
10 year tyre ban for 10- and 12-seater Land Rovers | Articles | Land Rover Owner (lro.com)
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