- Jo White MP visits new SharkEye wheel alignment service centre in Worksop.
- Government urged to make wheel alignment part of MOTs
- Cutting 2% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions
Making wheel alignment part of MOTs for UK road vehicles would collectively save motorists billions of pounds a year, a leading garage equipment manufacturer said today.
Minimising rolling resistance by ensuring vehicles’ wheels run straight would also accelerate the UK’s progress towards ambitious ‘net zero’ targets outlined by Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.
Carl Gibson, CEO of SharkEye Wheel Aligners UK Ltd, which manufactures its products near Sheffield, said: “Mandating wheel alignment as part of MOTs would cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions by at least 8% on average - and save at least a £100 a year in fuel costs alone on every registered road vehicle, not to mention tyre cost savings.
“Keir Starmer told COP29 the UK will cut emissions by 81% by 2035 against 1990 levels. To succeed we must attack this from every angle. That includes making wheel alignment part of MOTs, which would reduce UK’s overall emissions by a staggering 2%.”
Mr Gibson discussed this with Jo White, MP for Bassetlaw, when she visited the company’s new service centre in Worksop, Notts, which is now taking bookings before it opens in January.
Jo White, MP for Bassetlaw, said: "It is all hands to the wheel if we are to meet our ambitious carbon targets. Including wheel alignment within the annual MOT test has the potential to cut fuel costs for motorists and reduce carbon emissions by 2%. This is a win-win situation for motorists and our environment. I will be pushing this forward to government."
Wheel alignment helps improve air quality and wildlife habitats, specifically by cutting the amount of microplastic particles from tyre wear washing off roads into waterways and oceans**.
In the Warrant of Fitness (WOF), New Zealand’s equivalent of the MOT, vehicles undergo wheel alignment to ensure rolling resistance is minimised. The UK’s MOT process is overseen by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which sits under the DfT (Department for Transport).
