POLICE in Cleveland and Durham will be checking seatbelts in cars this week as part of a Europe-wide campaign.

Officers will be stopping vehicles where drivers or passengers are not wearing their seatbelts from Monday as part of the work carried out by TISPOL, the European traffic police network.

And with schools going back across the region at the start of this month, police will be paying particular attention to parents dropping off or picking up their children.

Inspector Phil Grieve, from the Cleveland and Durham Specialist Operations Unit, said: “Anyone travelling in a vehicle and not wearing a seatbelt is putting themselves, and potentially others at a much greater risk of serious injury or death.

“All too often our road policing officers have to deal with incidents where someone could have survived if they had been wearing a seatbelt."

Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, Barry Coppinger said: “Seatbelts not being worn is one of the ‘fatal four’ contributory factors in which people involved in collisions are killed or seriously injured."

A week-long campaign held across Cleveland and Durham in March this year saw 60 seatbelt offences recorded in the two force areas and 4,212 across the UK overall.

Under current legislation, drivers are responsible for ensuring that suitable safety restraints are worn by all passengers under 14 years old.

Children must use an appropriate child car restraint for their weight until they are 135cm tall or their 12th birthday, whichever is first.

Passengers over 14 are responsible for wearing their own seatbelts - and can face prosecution.