Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service is carrying out car seat checks for free at Stow Bardolph, after a similar event last year alarmingly revealed 62 per cent were loose fitting, six per cent had belt routing problems and four per cent had missing parts.

Fire crews rectified the problems and recommended in ten per cent of cases seats should be replaced all together.

The checks will be carried out by trained Downham firefighters at Church Farm car park. There will be signposting off the A10.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service local risk manager Grant Cotterell said the checks follow a law change two years ago regarding appropriate child restraints in cars, and the driver’s responsibility to ensure their correct use.

“This legislation is predicting that up to 2,000 child casualties a year could be prevented if all children were correctly restrained in the car,” said Mr Cotterell.

On Norfolk roads in 2005, a third of all children killed or seriously injured suffered their injuries in vehicles, he said.

“In a 30mph impact with a solid object, an unrestrained child will become 30 times their usual weight when they strike any fixed part of the vehicle, its contents or another person.”

Between 10am and 2pm crews will check child seats, and how they were fitted, he said, as part of the service’s ongoing casualty reduction programme.