POLICE have mounted a safety campaign after discovering that 80 per cent of children's car seats and other restraints were incorrectly fitted.

The statistic emerged at clinics held by police and car seat manufacturer Britax in supermarket car parks in County Durham last year.

People were invited to have their child seats checked, and experts found that most were inadequate and some dangerous.

Officers are also concerned that although a law requiring rear passengers to wear seatbelts was passed in 1991, many are still ignoring it.

To promote passenger safety, they began a two-week campaign focusing on the importance of effective child seats and seat belt legislation yesterday.

PC Dave Nixon, Durham Constabulary's casualty reduction officer, said: "Clearly, many parents are blithely unaware of just how ineffective safety equipment might be when they have to stop suddenly or their vehicles are involved in a collision."

He said that during the campaign, traffic and divisional officers would be looking out for seats which appeared insecure.

The campaign forms part of a Government drive to dramatically reduce road casualties by 2010.