§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his assessment of the effects of energy efficient tyres on fuel consumption for(a) buses and (b) freight trucks. [165152]
§ Mr. JamiesonThrough the TransportEnergy Best Practice programme, the Department has recently published a leaflet describing trials of energy efficient tyres fitted to trucks. These trials have shown some positive results, with fuel consumption reduced by an average of 7 per cent. Trials have shown that tread wear rates for current energy efficient tyres can be inferior to those of standard tyres, so they can have larger replacement costs.