BUYING a child seat for your car can be a safety lottery, a survey out today claims.

According to tests by What Car? magazine, the levels of protection on offer vary dramatically.

Tests were carried out on 20 of the UK's top-selling child seats. Each seat was subjected to front and side-impact collisions as well as being assessed for ease of use.

Mothercare's new MX Sport was top in both the infant carrier and toddler seat sectors, with the Britax Cruiser Plus the best model in the high back booster sector.

On the other hand, the Maxi Cosi Citi infant carrier broke under the strain in one test and the Graco Stella/Mothercare Paul Vogel Beep failed to give adequate protection to the dummy's head in another.