Parents who are packing their children off for school trips may be worried by news of the coach crash in France.

June and July are prime months for school trips.

But such long-distance journeys as the one being taken by the schoolchildren from Ayrshire are governed by regulations.

All coaches carrying school children have to be fitted with seatbelts.

But there is no law which says passengers in a coach have to wear the seatbelts, as there is for car passengers.

'Black box'

Drivers on long distance journeys are allowed to drive for a maximum of 10 hours a day.

They should not be at the wheel for more than four and a half hours in one go.

Then they have to take a break of at least 45 minutes.

There were two drivers on the coach in the French crash and it is thought the vehicle had been travelling virtually non-stop for 22 hours.

The drivers had been taking turns and it is thought the driver at the time of crash had been at the wheel for about an hour.

Coaches carry a tachograph - which is similar to a black box on an aircraft, monitoring speed and distance travelled.

And all British coaches have to be fitted with a roll-over bar which reinforces the roof.

It is thought the coach involved in the French crash flipped over so this safety feature may have been important in saving lives.

Last summer, 10 schoolboys from Lincolnshire were injured in a coach crash in Germany during a school trip.

And in August 2000, Craig Norsworthy, who was 15 and from Edinburgh, died in a coach crash while on a trip with the Boys' Brigade.