MEP backs urgent review of child safety on planes

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 22nd Jul 2008

Child safety on aircrafts must be revised, according to Scots MEP Elspeth Attwooll. At present, small children are not entitled to a special safety seat, being held in a parent's arms or buckled into a loop belt.

Elspeth Attwooll, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, said:

"Child safety seats have long been compulsory in cars, so why on earth should we overlook similar safety standards on planes, especially with the huge increase in families travelling abroad in recent years?

Action in this area is overdue. Tests have consistently shown the currents provisions for children on planes to be worryingly inadequate. This is something that must be addressed as a matter of urgency".

ENDS

Notes to editors:

An oral question on the subject was posed to the Commission during the Parliament's last Strasbourg session, by Eva Lichtenberger on behalf of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. See:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=OQ&reference=O-2008-0075&language=EN