HALF of child car seats checked by road safety experts in Southampton were fitted wrongly, a survey has found.The potentially dangerous findings came from a sweep of a city centre supermarket car park.

Southampton City Council conducted free safety checks on child car restraints at Tesco in Tebourba Way.

Out of all the seats checked on the day, half were either fitted incorrectly or were incompatible with the vehicle in which they were fitted.

Phil Emmans, a road safety expert from Enfield, checked each car seat and made adjustments to the fitting where appropriate.

Fitting problems included: Badly twisted seat belts and harnesses: it is important that seat belts and harnesses lay flat against the body Restraints not fitted in accordance with manufacturers instructions Seat belt buckle laying across the frame of the restraint - this is known as buckle crunch and in the event of an accident the buckle would break apart releasing the seat and the child.

Mr Emmans warned: "Parents of young children should be aware that as from September 2006, the law will require all children under four feet five inches (1.35 metres) in height, wherever they sit in the car, to be in a restraint appropriate to their size and weight.

"This means that children will be in car seats for much longer, at least up to 11 years of age."

Government and road safety experts estimate that the new regulations could prevent more than 2,000 child deaths a year.

For more information on the new regulations visit www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk.

For information on trading standards visit www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/southampton.