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High street stores give out incorrect car seat advice

An investigation has found that five major retailers are giving out “potentially dangerous advice” about fitting car seats

Major high street stores are giving out incorrect advice about how to fit car seats, according to an investigation carried out by Which?

Mystery shoppers visited seven branches of the five major car seat retailers - Halfords, Mothercare, John Lewis, Mamas & Papas and Babies R Us – to investigate advice on how to fit a car seat properly. No more than two branches of the same retailer gave the correct advice, according to Which?

The research also found that no more than three branches of the retailer asked the vital question of which type of car the seat was to be fitted in.

[Related article: Child Safety Week: How to choose a car seat]

Out of all the major retailers Mothercare achieved the highest scrore but it still did not beat the independent stores that Which? tested last year. None of the big retailers improved on their October 2011 test score. Three stores achieved a lower score than they did back then.

Richard Lloyd executive director at Which? said: “It is unacceptable that major high street retailers are still giving poor advice and failing to highlight crucial information that is key to a child's safety, despite them promising to do better last year.”

[Related article: Stop your toddler from escaping their car seat]

He added: “We want retailers to improve their staff training and knowledge of child car seats so that all major high street retailers offer the correct advice every time.

“Parents should be able to trust the advice they get from major retailers.”