Longer service intervals can lead to tyre safety problems

Motorists are now spending less time at garages due to longer service intervals on newer cars, which could mean dangerous tyres aren’t getting spotted.

Internet tyre specialists, Rubberball.co.uk, warn that visits to the garage for routine servicing now stretch to 20,000 miles or longer, meaning tyres are not being checked by mechanics as long as even 10 years ago.

Sondra Pritchard, director of Rubberball, says "Many motorists don’t bother to check their tyres, so they are more likely to wear to the point where they become illegal and potentially unsafe.

She added: "The big problem is that generations of motorists have been brought up driving vehicles that, even 10 years ago, often had short 6,000 mile service intervals. Consequently, many didn’t learn to undertake standard checks on wear items such as tyres. In the past, this was less of problem because the cars regularly visited the garage for maintenance checks and dangerous tyres would normally be spotted there.

"Service intervals have in some cases, trebled, many of those same motorists are still not checking their tyres regularly but this is a much bigger potential problem because the car may only visit a garage once a year or even less."

Part of the answer, Pritchard believes, is an awareness programme to explain to motorists the need to check their tyres regularly.

"Ideally, tyres should be checked every week for wear and damage. In our recent survey we revealed how one in ten drivers in the UK had a least one tyre that had little tread left, rendering it illegal."