WHEN IS A TYRE DEFECTIVE?
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THREE cases arising out of charges of having defective tyres were disposed of recently in the Sheriff Court, at Hawick
The charge, in the first case, was that of using a lorry with two defective front tyres, which may cause danger to other persons. Police evidence showed that the tyres in question were worn through the tread, and that, in the officers' opinions, they were liable to cause a skid. .Expert evidence, however, showed that they were no more likely to skid than, say, a solid tyre which had no tread, and that, in fact, there was still a good deal of life in the tyres, They were not worn through the breaker strips.
The sheriff-substitute, in finding the ease not proven, said that he thought the case was a border-line one.
In the second case, the charge related to two rear tyres and one front one, the two rear tyres being in a condition similar to those in the first case and the sheriff-substitute found the case not proven. As regards the third tyre which the police had stated to be in a worse condition than the two rear, he found the case proven.
The third case concerned one of two tyres on a rear twin wheel. The sheriffsubstitute found that this tyre was defective, but, he said, it had been argued that, because the twin was a unit and the other component part was sound, there was no offence. He pointed out that the regulations stated that all tyres must be sound, and therefore found the charge proven.
It is understood that the police, in this district, at any rate, will take these decisions as a guide in dealing with this class of case.