Five million unsafe vehicles on Britain's roads
Friday 19 February 2010 Back to Blog
Van contract hire customers have been warned that there could be millions of unsafe vehicles on Britain's roads, posing a danger to other motorists.
According to a survey by breakdown service company Britannia Rescue, as many as 16 per cent of drivers admit to using their vehicle despite knowing it has a mechanical fault.
This is equivalent to 5.4 million of the UK's 33.8 million drivers, with as many as 22 per cent of these having known about the dangerous fault on their vehicle for more than six months.
According to Simon Stevens, Britannia Rescue's general manager, these drivers could pose a risk to other motorists.
"It is concerning that so many motorists currently drive dangerous vehicles in need of repair," he said.
"Some repairs may appear to be minor but they could still turn a car into a death-trap that endangers the driver, passengers and other motorists."
The news follows the recent announcement by Toyota that it is recalling up to 1.8 million cars across Europe, including about 220,000 in the UK, due to an accelerator fault.