FROM THE POSTBAG
Page 78
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A reader notes a recent statement that to run a vehicle on bald tyres is an offence tender the Road Traffic Act and asks for confirmation of this.
The relevant regulation is contained in the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations. 1963. No. 1646 obtainable from HM Stationery Office, price 4s. 6d. The appropriate regulation is No. 79, headed: " Maintenance of Tyres" and reads: "All the tyres of a motor vehicle or trailer shall at all times while the vehicle or trailer is used on a road be maintained in such condition as to be free from any defect which might in any way cause damage to the surface of the road or danger to persons on or in the vehicle or to other persons using the road."
Admittedly there is no specific reference to running on " bald tyres", but whilst it would be for the courts to interpret what precisely was meant by "any defect" in any particular set of circumstances, running tyres in this condition would lay the operator open to being charged for an offence under this regulation.