Kwik-Fit fined over dangerous tyres

Kwik-Fit has been fined for selling potentially dangerous tyres that were 13 years old. Enfield magistrates' court heard that a woman had steering problems with her car after paying pounds 220 for two new tyres at Kwik-Fit's branch in Southgate, north London.

She complained to Enfield council trading standards officers and a Pirelli engineer discovered one of the tyres was 13 years old. Council officers visited the garage and found one other 13-year-old tyre in stock. It failed a safety test and was said to be potentially dangerous.

Experts told the court that tyres degrade with age, even in good storage conditions, and a British Standard advised that any stored longer than six years should not be used without reference to the manufacturer.

Kwik-Fit denied the charges but said it did not know how long the tyres had been in stock. The firm was fined pounds 2,000 and ordered to pay almost pounds 10,000 costs.