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Tyre checks vital for at-work road safety

Of the 150,000 tyre safety checks carried out last year, 30,000 vehicles had tyres that required attention, says Kwik-Fit Fleet’s Mike Wise. And with a fine of L2500 per illegal tyre, there’s a financial as well as a safety imperative to ensure all business cars and business vans have tyres in good condition.
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Wise: tyre checks a safety-critical issue

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7 March 2007

Mike Wise
Wise: tyre checks a safety-critical issue

Of the 150,000 tyre safety checks carried out last year, 30,000 vehicles had tyres that required attention, says Kwik-Fit Fleet’s Mike Wise. And with a fine of £2500 per illegal tyre, there’s a financial as well as a safety imperative to ensure all business cars and business vans have tyres in good condition.

 

Businesses are concentrating more on at-work safety. That means more tyre safety inspection checks.

Last year we carried out 200,000 inspections; this year we expect to carry out 250,000.

There’s a good reason for this. Initial checks on those 200,000 vehicles found that 20% required attention.

Typical problems included under or over inflation; damage to the tyre wall; and tread below or close to the 1.6mm legal minimum.

As tyres are the only part of the vehicle in contact with the road, it’s important to make sure they are in good condition.

The fine for driving on illegal tyres is £2500 per tyre – plus a three points per tyre licence endorsement.

So there’s a good financial reason to make sure business drivers are driving legally as well as the vitally important human aspect.

And, by ensuring regular tyre checks, small businesses will make certain they fulfil all their health and safety obligations.

The effects of tyre tread on stopping distances at 70mph

  • New tyre, 8mm tread

stopping distance of 100 metres

  • Tyre, 3mm tread

stopping distance increases to 150 metres

  • Tyre, 1.6mm tread

stopping distance increases to 200 metres

  • Tyre, 1mm tread

stopping distance increase to 250 metres

 

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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