Tyre age rules for buses and coaches. Know where the old ones are.

The tyre age rule is one of the simplest rules a PSV operator has to follow, and one of the easiest to break without noticing. A tyre can have plenty of tread, the right pressure and no visible damage, and still be illegal on the front of a coach because of four digits on its sidewall. If an examiner finds one, it is a dangerous defect and an immediate prohibition.

The rule

The rule came in through the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 1 February 2021. They added new paragraphs to regulation 27 of the Construction and Use Regulations 1986, the regulation on the condition of tyres. The Department for Transport’s information sheet on tyre age explains it in plain terms. A tyre may not be used if the week of manufacture marked on its sidewall is more than ten years before the day the vehicle is used. It is also illegal if it has no valid week of manufacture marking at all.

Which positions it covers

For passenger vehicles the age limit applies to tyres fitted:

• to a front axle of a bus other than a minibus, which covers big buses and coaches
• in single configuration on any axle of a minibus, so every single wheel on a minibus, front and rear

It also applies to the front axle of a goods vehicle over 3,500kg. In the regulations, a bus is a motor vehicle built or adapted to carry more than eight seated passengers plus the driver, and a minibus is one that carries more than eight and not more than sixteen.

Front axle has a specific meaning: any axle forward of the midpoint of the chassis whose wheels are controlled by the steering. If a vehicle has two steered axles forward of the midpoint, both are covered. A steered rear tag axle behind the midpoint is not a front axle under this definition. Single configuration means no more than one wheel and tyre at each end of the axle, so a minibus with twin rear wheels does not have its rear tyres caught by the age limit, but one with single rears does.

Legible date codes on every tyre

A separate part of the rule applies to every tyre on a bus or minibus, in any position: the date marked on the sidewall must be legible. An illegible date code is an offence even on a rear twin. DVSA’s categorisation of defects accepts that the code only has to be on one sidewall, so on an inner twin it may not be visible, and that on its own is an advisory.

Exemptions

The only exemptions are vehicles already outside the tyre condition rules, such as slow agricultural vehicles and broken down vehicles being towed at low speed, and vehicles of historical interest used for non-commercial purposes. That last group means vehicles built or first registered at least 40 years ago, of a type no longer made and kept in original condition. A heritage bus on a paying service does not get the exemption.

Other positions

Tyres over ten years old are legal on other positions, such as the rear twins of a coach, but DfT says it does not recommend it. Its research found that older tyres can deteriorate internally in ways a visual check will not pick up. The Guide to maintaining roadworthiness says that where older tyres are legally used, their age should be recorded and a specific risk assessment done that considers the distance, speed and load the vehicle will run at, for example urban work only.

Reading a date code

Tyres sold in Great Britain carry a four-digit date code on the sidewall. The first two digits are the week of manufacture and the last two are the year. A code of 2120 means week 21 of 2020. That tyre becomes too old for a front steered axle once more than ten years have passed since that week.

Two practical points. The age runs from the week of manufacture, not the date of fitting, so a tyre that sat in a store for two years before going on the vehicle arrives with two years already used. And the code only has to be marked on one sidewall, so on a wheel fitted with the code facing inwards you need a mirror, a torch or a look from underneath. Write it down when the tyre goes on, so nobody has to crawl under the vehicle to find it later.

Re-treads

Re-treaded tyres are treated the same as new ones, except that the age is counted from the week of re-treading marked on the sidewall, not the date the original casing was made. A re-tread with no valid re-treading date mark is caught in the same way as a new tyre with no manufacture date. Under the categorisation of defects, on a re-capped tyre the re-tread date is the one that counts.

What examiners check

At the roadside and at annual test, DVSA’s categorisation of defects deals with tyre age like this:

Clear deterioration means things like cracking, splitting or perishing. DfT’s guidance says an over-age tyre in a covered position is a dangerous defect that will fail the annual test and attract a prohibition anywhere else. Under DVSA’s OCRS guidance, an immediate prohibition on a tyre carries 200 points, or 400 if it is S marked, and an examiner is likely to ask why a tyre whose age was printed on it was missed. See PG9 prohibitions explained.

Using, causing or permitting the use of an over-age tyre in a covered position is an offence. Penalties include fixed penalties, fines, licence points and disqualification. The maximum fine is level 5, which DfT says is potentially unlimited in England and Wales and capped at £5,000 in Scotland.

In a maintenance investigation

Tyre management is question 8b of the maintenance investigation questions, and monitoring tyre age is one of the things the operator’s system must do. Clear evidence that a manufacturer’s date code has been deliberately altered or removed is marked for report to the Traffic Commissioners.

Recording it

The Guide to maintaining roadworthiness sets out what a tyre management system should do on age:

• record and monitor tyre age for the whole fleet
• make sure the date code is legible on every bus, coach and minibus tyre
• advise on the safety inspection when a date code cannot be seen on an inner twin, and make sure the code is actually there
• report an illegible date code as a defect on the safety inspection, with the action taken
• advise on the safety inspection when a tyre reaches nine years old
• report a tyre over ten years old in a position where it cannot legally be used as a defect

The nine-year advisory is the useful one. It gives you a year to plan a replacement instead of finding out at the roadside. PSVault records date codes in the tyre register by wheel position, checks them against the ten-year rule for front steered axles, and flags steer tyre date codes on the inspection sheet before it can be signed. See tyres and wheel security.

Common ways operators get caught out

• Swapping wheels. An old tyre moved from a rear position to the front, or a spare fitted to the front after a puncture, with nobody checking its date.
• Old stock. A tyre that has been on the shelf for years goes on looking new.
• Re-tread dates misread, or the casing date used instead of the re-tread date.
• Date codes recorded once and never again, so the register does not match what is on the vehicle.
• Minibus rear singles forgotten, because the rule is thought of as a front axle rule.
• A second steered front axle missed, on vehicles that have one.
• Date codes worn, painted over or damaged so they cannot be read.
• Hired or newly bought vehicles put into service before anyone has checked the tyre dates.

Tyre age checklist

1. Record the date code of every tyre on every vehicle, by wheel position, when it is fitted.
2. Check the dates on all front steered axles, including any second steered axle forward of the midpoint, and on every single wheel of every minibus.
3. Record the re-tread date, not the casing date, on re-treads.
4. Flag tyres at nine years on the safety inspection and plan their replacement.
5. Record any illegible or missing date code as a defect and put it right.
6. Check the date before any tyre or wheel is moved to a front steered position, including spares.
7. Do a risk assessment for any tyre over ten years old you keep on a legal position, and record its age.
8. Check tyre dates on any vehicle joining the fleet before it goes into service.
9. Include tyre age in your driver briefings so drivers know what a date code looks like.