Keep your child safe with a booster seat.

Choosing a car seat which is safe and correct for your child is not as straight forward at it seems. The regulations on children travelling in cars changed in September 2010 and any child under the age of 12 who are smaller than 135cm tall must be seated in a booster so that they can safely use an adult seat belt.

This new regulation has lead to an explosion of products available in the car seat market but a recent survey by a leading car magazine showed that surprisingly enough nearly half of the children they checked where travelling without a booster seat and many parents said this was because retailers simply had sold out.

There are a variety of products available to parents costing anything from £10 to more than £200. The simplest form of child car seat is the booster seat. They simply just raise the child to a suitable level for wearing the adult seat belt. Another option is the convertible seat which is a combination of a booster seat and a full chair. These can be used by children of different sizes and is often bought by families with more than one child. The third option to get is a full seat and is the solution offering most protection for your child. But children nearing the age of 12 might be reluctant to use one.

So whichever variety you opt for, just make sure you get a seat, not only in order to follow the law, but in order to keep your child safe when you’re out driving. And this goes whether you’re driving a Ford Fiesta in London or you’re a mum driving a used Peugeot 206, Staffordshire.