www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23320526

Shouldn't that read " Check the age of your tyres"? Nothing in article suggested tyres had been bought second-hand, only very old and possibly stored for a long time.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960, RMC 1458 RM 1585, (M 961, M 271 - both sold) and several RTs

Agreed, but it could equally well have been beware of cheap tyres.

So as above.

Back in about 1978 I bought some cheap tyres, ISTR Firestone, brand new, for my BEA coach. Went to Weymouth Rally. On the way along the M3 heard something go "plop". didn't know what it was till I noticed in the mirror the offside front tyre was oozing liquid rubber from the sidewall! Lucky I had a spare, as a bit further, near Salisbury, the other front tyre done the same! Managed to buy another tyre from a coach operator, and carried on to the rally.

About a year later, also going to Weymouth, one of the rear tyres blew out on the M3!! It turned out the cheap Firestone tyres were "seconds" and should have only been sold for agricultural trailers. Lesson learnt.

This is not about seconds or cheap tyres.
It's about old tyres, even of top grade quality and even if unused for many years.

There have been rumours that there are some changes in the pipeline over older tyres and I think they are just waiting for this shocking case to be wrapped up before announcing it. It could be rather costly across the board as suggestions it will cover all public road use motor vehicles from bikes to HGVs

We will have to wait and see.

The DOT Code begins with the letters "DOT" followed by a plant code (two numbers or letters) that identifies where it was manufactured. The last four numbers represent the week and year the tire was built. A three-digit code was used for tires manufactured before 2000. For example, 178 means it was manufactured in the 17th week of 8th year of the decade. In this case it means 1988. For tires manufactured in the 1990s, the same code holds true, but there is a little triangle (Δ) after the DOT code. Thus, a tire manufactured in the 17th week of 1998 would have the code 178Δ. In 2000, the code was switched to a 4-digit code. Same rules apply, so for example, 3003 means the tire was manufactured in the 30th week of 2003.

(From Wikipedia, hence the American spelling)

My bus number (if any): RMs 238, 471. 2213 & GS1 7

It won't be, and commercial tyres "can" last a good deal longer. I have a pair on the back of my GS that were fitted in around 1976, Dunlop HiMiler's, and still usable tread on them!

There's RM1180 in Luxembourg on a good set of Michelins that are over 15 years old; the Lux authorities wanted then renewed despite having over 10mm of tread and in very good condition. It's still on the Michelins!

Where does one get decent quality 900x20's these days? As for vintage cars, well, I really don't know.

Do you have any information about the coach accident with the defective tyre? If it was a modern coach, I'd be surprised if it was on a 20 year old tyre.

Sorry, just seen the BBC link in roy's post! THAT accident, that closed the A3 for quite a while.

I don't mind using old tyres on older vehicles where they're unlikely to do more than about 40mph, but to use old tyers on a modern coach capable of about 65 and being rather heavy, never!

ISTR the operator had a bit of a grilling at a Public Inquiry.

The investigation suggests that the tyre was disintegrating from the inside and was undetectable from the outside.

One does wonder how one can check a tyre. Removing and refitting does not do them much good if repeated.

Personally , I've not heard of good quality old tyres being any better or worse than brand new as long as they have been stored properly. But you only know that if they are in your stock.

Even new tyres have been known to fail.

Are there any rules on age limits for casings used for remix and retreads ?

The economic climate may be making these a popular cost saving exercise where perhaps new tyres would have been used previously.

You don't see so much evidence of tyre debris on the roads from failures as there used to be - sadly though a motorcyclist was killed recently by flying debris from a blow out.

The environmental impact of scrapping perfectly serviceable five year old tyres would be high given the cost of recycling and use of valuable raw materials and energy for manufacturing new ones against the relatively few tyre failure incidents resulting in injury or fatalities sad as it is.

My bus number (if any): RML 2747

I recently became aware of a blow out on an RT. The bus was carrying passengers and mounted the verge. The driver sustained a shoulder injury controlling the steering and but was able to avoid passenger injury or serious damage to the bus. The bus had to be recovered as no tyre fitters could find the right tyre and anyway they wouldn't work on split rim wheels without a safety cage which was impractical at the roadside.

The tyre was bought as a new tyre. When I saw it last week there was a large section of the side wall that had blown out. The side walls looked perfect on external examination and there was plenty of tread.

The DOT code showed it was manufactured in the 18th week of 1987 so was more than 26 years old.

I've tried checking the dates of all the tyres on my buses but can only see DOT codes on about half of them They only have to be on one side of the tyre. I've decided to replace all the tyres on front wheels that are more than 10 years old.

My bus number (if any): RMs 238, 471. 2213 & GS17

I wish you luck finding a new tyre supplier. If you do manage to locate a source of new 900 x 20 tyres please share it with us.

My bus number (if any): RM 1001

My bus number (if any): RM1414 sort of