Paddy Murphy was commenting on reports from tyre dealers that the levels of non compliance with the 1.6mm minimum depth has increased significantly since the onset of the recession.
"In the good times it was as high as 50 percent who were only changing their tyres after they became illegal," he said. "A survey now would show that figure to be considerably more."
He said that motorists are regularly checked for tax and insurance, but not for tyres.
