Police have described as "disgraceful" the number of Mid Sussex parents who fail to ensure their children wear seatbelts on the school run.

More than 30 children were driven to one primary school without wearing belts yesterday.

Officers carried out spot checks at St Wilfrid's and Hayworth primary schools in Haywards Heath and at Halsford Park School in East Grinstead as part of Operation Harness.

Officers said many of the parents they spoke to claimed they hadn't had time to fasten their children's belts.

The worst results were discovered at Halsford Park. PC Ian Bond said officers had been "dismayed" at the attitude of the parents, many of whom had secured their own seatbelts.

He said: "We found children in 20 cars without seatbelts. This is disgraceful and very worrying.

"If any of these cars had been involved in a crash all these children were at risk of injury to themselves and to being catapulted forward and injuring the driver and front seat passenger."

He said the figure was not a poor reflection of the school but of the behaviour of parents.

He said: "When we advised parents about the dangers of not using seat belts, many of them were very blas and dismissive and said they didn't have time to secure their children or that they had forgotten.

"It is a very sad reflection on parents who are choosing to ignore the safety of their children."

PC Bond and three other officers from Haywards Heath traffic police were at the school to give advice and to monitor seat belt usage while children were dropped off in the morning.

They handed out leaflets detailing the importance of using seatbelts and advised on safety for children walking to school.