New research from one of the UK’s leading motoring organisations has revealed a worrying number of responsible adults failing to put their children in appropriate safety seats when driving.

The RAC found that one in five (22 per cent) of parents or grandparents admitted that they don’t use child seats, breaking the law, putting themselves at risk of a fine and most importantly putting their children at risk of serious harm.

UK law states that a child must be placed in a child seat until they reach a height of 135cm or the age of 12, whichever comes first.

The survey, which focused on the answers of 605 parents and grandparents found that 16 per cent failed to put their kids in the child seats ‘very rarely’, a three per cent admitted they failed to do it ‘sometimes’ and another three per cent revealing that they failed to put children in seats ‘regularly’.

AC Shop spokesperson Sophie Steane said: “Having the right car seat for your baby or child is essential. Our findings show that many parents and grandparents have taken risks by not using the proper seats. While many say they have only done this very occasionally and only for very short distances, you can never be sure that something bad won’t happen.

“We imagine more risks have been taken with older children than babies, but we would urge every parent and grandparent not to chance it, as the thoughts of something terrible happening would be too much to bear.”

Drivers who didn’t put their children in a car seat said that their main reason was that the car they were driving at the time did not have a child seat available, with more than half (54 per cent) using that as the excuse.

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