Tauranga City councillors have backed down on the high pressure tyres decision deciding instead to take a lower pressure approach.

Instead of ticketing and fining cars with dangerous tyres, the city parking wardens will instead place warning notices on windscreens.

Tauranga City Council has backed down on its initial move to ticket and fine vehicle owners for dangerous tyres. Parking wardens will now place warning notices on windscreens.

The staff initiative is not about city parking wardens checking tyres for tread depth, says TCC transportation manager Martin Parkes.

'It's about obviously dangerous tyres," says Martin, who showed the council photos of tyres so far gone the canvas is showing, and in some cases the steel belting.

They are vehicles with tyres on the point of blowing out and should not be on the road, says Martin, who says the pictures of cars with dangerous tyres were parked in Tauranga City streets.

Tyres were a factor in the roads deaths of two people in the Western Bay of Plenty in the last two years.

'It's a life and death decision. I don't want to sound ominous, but that's what it comes down to,” says Martin.

'If people drive with these tyres there's a chance they will be killed or they will kill someone, and it's happening. The statistics tell us.”

Martin wants to be able to ticket the vehicle, giving the owner two weeks to replace the tyre or face a $150 fine.

He expects only a few tickets to be issued for dangerous tyres each year.

The first year Rotorua's council introduced the change to ticketing for damaged tyres, about 200 tickets were issued, and about 80 tickets for each of the two following years.

Martin thinks Tauranga might start out with 300 tickets in the first year – compared with the 28,000 total of tickets already issued each year by the city wardens.

'It's a small percentage of the overall number,” says Martin.

TCC councillor Rick Curach opposed the recommendation, saying he thinks the council is getting heavy-handed and the decision could have a real negative effect in the community.

'It would become another reason for people to avoid the Tauranga CBD.”

Rick thinks 95 per cent of people would act on a warning notice.

'People hate the council,” says Rick. 'This is another step that would erode our relationship with the community.”

Parking wardens already ticket ratepayers in the central business district for overdue vehicle registrations, and out-of-date warrants of fitness.

Rick asked if the next step is for parking wardens to hand out tickets over tyre pressures, because they also have an effect on road safety.

His motion to oppose the ticketing regime was supported seven to four.

The people voting against Rick's motion, and in favour of the ticket regime, were John Robson, Steve Morris, Kelvin Clout and Stuart Crosby.