Dodgy tyres costing lives - Ensure your car is safe to drive

OVER 1,250,000 cars went through the National Car Test (NCT) process last year but a higher ratio than ever — 52% — failed the roadworthiness test. Worringly, 4,500 of those cars were too dangerous to drive and had to be towed away from test centres.

The NCT test is mandatory once a car is more than three years old and last year’s figures show that our national fleet of cars is ageing. Our cars are, on average 8.5 years old. That figure may be about to fall as new car sales for the first quarter of this year are up by nearly 30%.

If that ratio is reduced then, hopefully, road deaths because of safety and functionality issues with vehicles, particularly tyres, might fall.