The boss of Halfords has criticised the police for failing to clamp down on motorists who drive cars with worn tyres.
This follows a Freedom of Information request sent to the nation’s police forces.
It found that several forces issue 25 times more fines for using a mobile phone at the wheel than for driving a car with illegal tyres.
For example, Surrey Police issued 1,534 fines for mobile phone usage over the last year, but just 62 drivers were fined for worn tyres. The figures for Cheshire Constabulary were 1,532 and 83 respectively.
That’s despite unsafe tyres leading to 137 accidents where somebody was either killed or seriously injured.
Graham Stapleton, Halfords CEO, said: “The results show very clearly that police forces across the UK are taking the enforcement of the use of mobile phones at the wheels far more seriously than they are worn tyres.
“Mobile phone usage at the wheel is completely unacceptable and dangerous, make no mistake – but so are worn tyres.
“Tyres are the only thing that connects a vehicle to the road and the figures for deaths and serious accidents caused by worn tyres reflect this.”
Source: GB News
Pete lancaster
How many accidents were directly caused by worn tyres? How many accidents were recorded on wet roads, or a car after an accident caused by another car for example?