'Mixed' tyre regs for light vehicles
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• New regulations stemming from ECE recommendations, and concerning the "mixing" of tyre types on certain classes of vehicles, are proposed by the DoE.
The proposal to amplify the relevant C and U Regulation applies to passenger vehicles adapted to carry not more than seven passengers, exclusive of driver, dualpurpose vehicles, and goods vehicles not exceeding 30cwt unladen and trailers drawn by such vehicles.
The new provisions would prohibit in all circumstances on the aforementioned vehicle types: a. the use of pneumatic tyres of different types of construction on the same axle; b. the use of diagonal-ply tyres (sometimes known as cross-ply or bias-ply tyres) or bias-belted tyres on the rear axle if radial-ply tyres are fitted on the front axle; c. the use of diagonal-ply tyres on the rear axle if bias-belted tyres are fitted on the front axle.
The combinations of types of tyres prohibited under these provisions are already, in the DoE's view, prohibited in this country under the general provisions of C and U Regulation 83 relating to the use of unsuitable tyres. The purpose of the draft amending regulation is to incorporate specific rules in the C and U Regulations generally in line with the recommendations of the ECE, whose plans to issue recommendations on mixing tyres of larger commercial vehicles have not yet been resolved due to some difference of view.