Most large truck fleets and the majority of city buses run on tyres provided under service contracts where the tyre manufacturer manages the tyre’s performance throughout its service life. The manufacturer is incentivised to deploy best practice in tyre management in order to maximise fleet performance and tyre service life.
The fleet operator benefits from reduced costs and improved reliability. The environment benefits from reduced CO2 emissions and improved resource efficiency. Society benefits from improved road safety and less disruption to journeys due to fewer tyre-related vehicle breakdowns.
Service contracts account for almost 50% of replacement truck tyres supplied in the UK. However, the take-up of these contracts is low amongst smaller fleets (fewer than 20 vehicles) that together represent 50% of trucks on the UK roads.
Highways England has identified that vehicles from smaller fleets are disproportionately susceptible to tyre-related roadside breakdowns that cause disruption on arterial roads. Increased adoption of tyre management contracts could improve road safety, reduce CO2 emissions, increase resource productivity and reduce traffic disruption.