A charity working against pollution control, Environmental Protection UK, has called for the introduction of quieter tyres and tyre labelling.

“We are urging the EU to accelerate the introduction of stricter noise limits for all tyres used on our roads,” said Mary Stevens, noise specialist at the charity.

“This is crucial if the UK and other states are to be able to meet our obligations to reduce noise from traffic under the environmental noise directive.”

She said there needed to be a reduction in the noise from tyres of 5dB, as well as a system of tyre noise labelling and an end to exemptions for wide off-road tyres.