Bournemouth council is urging parents to make sure their child car seats are fitted correctly.

Nearly 65% of child car seats are incorrectly fitted or incompatible with the child or car, research has revealed.

Many parents are also not receiving the correct fitting advice from the store they purchased the seat from, putting thousands of lives at risk.

Bournemouth Council will be running an in-car child safety clinic, on Monday, March 9 at the Littledown Centre between 11am and 4pm.

Drivers will have the opportunity to have their child car seats checked free of charge with experts on-hand offering advice.

Councillor Michael Filer, Cabinet Member for Transport said, “It is vital that we raise awareness of this issue in a bid to vastly improve children’s safety in cars. I would urge drivers to seek helpful advice from experts to make sure their child seats are fitted safely and correctly.”

Child car seats can cause some confusion for users and not every type of seat will fit every car. Even if the seat is compatible, they can still be fitted incorrectly, or the wrong restraint may be used for the child’s weight.

Experts advise drivers not to use a second-hand seat, as the history of the seat may be unknown and it could be damaged.

Richard Pearson, Traffic and Road Safety Manager for Bournemouth Borough Council said, “It is extremely important that seats are fitted as stated in the instructions provided, to ensure injuries to children are kept to a minimum. Our road safety team have been tackling this issue by providing life-saving advice in our free child car seat check days throughout the last year.”

To request a free booklet about in-car safety email road.safety@bournemouth.gov.uk.