Ban On Ten Year Old Tyres for Heavy Vehicles

From 1st February 2021, the Construction and Use Regulations will ban tyres aged over 10 years old from being used on the front steered axles of heavy vehicles such as HGVs, buses and coaches, as well as all single wheels on a minibus with 9 to 16 passenger seats. If they are found on such a vehicle it will get a dangerous fail at its annual MOT test.

Ban On Ten Year Old Tyres for Heavy Vehicles

It will be a requirement for the manufacturer’s date code to be legible on every tyre fitted to HGVs, trailers greater than 3.5 tonnes, buses, coaches and minibuses. Retreads will have the manufacture date taken from when the retread was done.

If the tyre date code is not legible on front tyres

Tyres fitted to the front steered axle of HGVs, buses, coaches or single wheels fitted to a minibus without a legible manufacture date code will fail the DVSA test.

If the manufacturer’s date code on the tyre is not visible on other tyre positions

If the date code is not legible on other wheel positions, it will also be an offence, attracting a minor fail. This would not prevent a pass certificate but the tyre should be replaced.

Using tyres over 10 years old in other positions

It is the operator of the vehicle’s responsibility to make sure they maintain tyre safety and consider the risks of using older tyres. Where tyres over 10 years old are legally used, a specific risk assessment should be completed that considers distance, speed and conditions that the vehicle operates under.

Driver responsibility

As well as the age or legibility of the manufacturer’s date code, consideration will be given in the annual test to the deterioration of the tyre to decide if the driver is culpable. Drivers would be expected to identify obvious tyre deterioration, damage or wear that is clearly visible. Owner-drivers are considered culpable for a tyre age or marking offence whether there is a visible deterioration or not.