Whilst there I spotted a superb deal on the Graco Junior Plus Booster Seat in Candy and Cherry Drop

Ordinarily this booster seat (in either Candy or Cherry Drop) is £99.99 but the BIG DIFFERENCE with this offer is - BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!

All you parents with two cars (that’s most of us right?) you can get two matching booster seats for the price of one.

I don’t expect this offer to be on for very long, so if you are thinking of taking Halfords up on this please remember to Reserve online using the Halfords website. You can still pay and collect from your local branch but at least you know they’ll have a pair of Graco Junior Plus Booster Seats with your name on them!

If you don't have a Halfords near by, or if you do and they're our of stock, this offer is available on their website too (see here)

Churchill's survey goes on to say 10% of parents surveyed mistakenly think that once children are eight years of age they do not require a child car seat.

Along with the lack of knowledge of the Booster Seat law highlighted by the survey it was also found that nearly three quearters of parents did not replace their baby or child seat following a car crash.

Of the parents that have Child Seats fitted 9% didn't feel happy that the seat was fitted properly. Only 14% of parents who have Child Seats fitted thought it important enough to seak professional advice about correctly fitting their child safety seat.

A spokeswoman from Churchill said: "The law was introduced to force parents to take child safety in the car seriously. It's worrying to see that so many parents are either unaware or deliberately flouting the law. Irrespective of the reason, they are putting lives at risk.''

Northampton Police have said that 41 people in 12 months have been given £30 fines for failing to ensure that their children were strapped in.

Parents were found to be committing one of two offenses, either a child under three not wearing a seatbelt when in the rear of the car or a child between the ages of 3 and 14 failing to wear a rear seatbelt.

Understandably, the police fear parents are unaware of the changes to the law.

John Hodgson, casualty reduction sergeant, said: “It’s a concern when children are reliant on parents to carry them safely.
“We do see children who are not using the appropriate booster seat or booster cushion and there’s a certain amount of non-compliance. Many people are still not aware of the legislation.
“There are lots of outlets where you can get child car seats fitted or checked.

“Our officers have the power to issue fines to anyone who is not complying with the law.”

More on this story can be found with our friends at Northampton Evening Telegraph

Of the 125 car seats checked last month by Derbyshire County Council 75% (93) were either incorrectly fitted, unsuitable for the type of car they were used in or damaged as to cause safety issues for the child.

Also, during recent free safety checks carried out by Derbyshire County Council of 21 seats checked only 5 needed no adjustment at all.

The figures returned by this report cause great concern for safety groups, it’s over 4 years now since the Booster Seat laws made it mandatory for any child below 135cm and younger than 12 years old to use a booster seat when travelling in a car.

If you are unsure of how to fit your car safety seat correctly please contact the manufacturer or the supplier you bought it from. Halfords provide an excellent fitting service, as do MotherCare.

And if you are buying your first car seat or booster seat we would strongly recommend purchasing it from a store that offers a fitting service, like the two mentioned above. If you buy online from either of these suppliers we are sure they will extend the same fitting service to you if you go along to the store with a copy of your receipt.

The European Union put in place new seat belt legislation (Directive 2003/20/EC) some time ago that the UK should have been brought its laws in line with. We are over 4 months late in implementing our changes to comply with this legislation, we should have completed this by May 2006.

Will there be any further changes to the law?

After May 2008 all baby and child car safety seats must at least meet UN ECE regulation 44.03, but preferably the more recent standard 44.04. From May ’08 onwards all seats must be marked with the E symbol and the numbers 44.03, 03 or 04.