NEW research in Blackburn with Darwen shows half of the borough’s children are at risk from badly-fitted car seats in their parents’ vehicles.

The checks, carried out for the BBC ‘Watchdog’ programme, match results of similar surveys elsewhere.

The council’s Road Safety Team worked with local police and Child Seat Safety Ltd on the programme, to be broadcast on Monday.

The results matched those in the CSS’s latest research paper, which looked at nearly 2,000 checks UK-wide in 2013 including spot-checks in Leicestershire in June showing 49 per cent of such seats were dangerously incorrectly fitted.

Council highways boss Maureen Bateson said: “It is excellent to see our road safety team recognised for all its hard work in casualty reduction and it is hoped that parents in the borough take on board the advice given to keep their children safe whilst travelling.”

CSS boss Claire Waterhouse said: “Parents are making mistakes which can be easily rectified.”