A MUM whose 18-year-old son died in a coach crash five years ago has backed Wirral Council’s plans to stop the authority’s buses using old tyres.

Michael Molloy was killed in the crash while travelling home to Liverpool from Bestival music festival in 2012, with an inquest finding the incident was caused by a worn-out tyre.

On Wednesday, his bereaved mum Frances welcomed the news Wirral Council is to become the first on Merseyside to set new rules for transport contractors to guarantee no coach or bus has tyres more than 10 years old.

It will mean hundreds of services around Wirral adopting the new safer tyres.

It’s all part of the Tyred Campaign, which was launched by Ms Molloy, calling on bus providers across the country to adopt the policy.

Ms Molloy said: “I’m delighted Wirral Council has introduced these measures which will undoubtedly protect passengers on public service vehicles.

“Wirral Council was fully behind our campaign to change the law nationally, so it’s great to see the authority take action and put people’s safety first.”

The news comes after Conservative MPs in the House of Commons voted down Garston and Halewood MP Maria Eagle’s Private Members Bill, which sought to place a national ban on public service vehicles using old tyres.

Now Wirral Council leader Phil Davies is calling on other local authorities across the Liverpool City Region and beyond to follow their lead.

“Unlike the Tory government we are taking action because the evidence clearly suggests old tyres kill”, said Cllr Davies.

“Labour authorities across Liverpool City Region have supported the Tyred Campaign but we are going further and making it a requirement for any transport contractor to comply.

“Our Notice of Motion calling on the Government to implement an outright ban on tyres older than 10 years old was unanimously supported in October 2017 and we lobbied for a change in the law, but the Tories in Parliament shamefully put party politics before road safety and ignored the sensible, life-saving requests of the Tyred Campaign.”

Wirral Council currently contracts with 20 different suppliers to provide transport on 230 routes, carrying children, elderly residents and adult learners to and from school, care centres and other council services.

Now, suppliers will be required to sign up and demonstrate they do not use tyres older than 10 years to meet strict new contract rules.

The news comes years after an inquest found the death of Mr Molley was caused by a worn-out tyre, with subsequent evidence suggesting tyres over the age of 10 cause unnecessary deaths on the roads.

Mr Molloy was killed along with two others after the Merseypride coach’s 19-year-old tyre blew out, causing the catastrophic accident on the A3 in Surrey.

So far, the government has issued advice about ageing tyres, but stopped short of making it legislation.

Cllr Davies added: “It’s simply not good enough for the Tories to ignore this campaign and walk by on the other side of the road, that is why Labour is taking action so our in-house transport service as well as external service providers will be required to meet these strict new standards.”

The announcement also comes after Merseytravel announced all of its bus services across the Liverpool City Region would operate the safe tyre policy, but that did not cover council suppliers.