Background to the Invention In the transportation of prison inmates, the vehicles transporting the inmates have benches or seats and seatbelts for securing the inmates to the seats.

Vandalism is a major problem in such vehicles and an item which is often vandalised is the seatbelt. Inmates may attempt to use the seatbelts for nefarious purposes. In addition a vandalised seatbelt cannot be used as a restraint and occupants of the vehicle are put at risk of injury in the event of the vehicle being involved in an accident. Reducing the incidence of vandalism also has the advantage that the seatbelt remains extant and is available for its designated purpose.

Summary of the Invention According to the invention there is provided belt webbing which includes: a fabricated strip; and shaped reinforcing strands incorporated in the strip.

The strip may be of a synthetic plastics material. More particularly, the strip may be a weave of the synthetic plastics material. The synthetic plastics material may be a nylon material.

The strands may extend in a longitudinal direction in the strip and the strands may be laterally spaced with respect to each other.

Each reinforcing strand may be of a material resistant to being separated into a number of pieces, for example, by cutting or breaking. Preferably, the material is also a corrosion resistant material. Thus, the reinforcing strands are, preferably, stainless steel. The stainless steel strands may be woven into the strip.

Each strand, when viewed from a side of the strand, may have a waveform pattern or corrugated appearance as a result of its being woven into the material, with peaks and troughs of the waveform extending substantially perpendicularly to a plane of the strip.

The applicant believes that, with this arrangement of strand, it impedes a person manipulating the strands, for example, by bending the strip back and forth, in order to cause the strands to break and to protrude from the strip.

Preferably, the strip is coated with a fire retardant material.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a length of belt webbing, in accordance with the invention; and Figure 2 shows a side view of a reinforcing strand of the webbing of Figure 1.

Detailed Description of the Drawings In the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally designates belt webbing, in accordance with the invention. The webbing 10 comprises a strip or web 12 of woven material. A plurality of reinforcing strands 14 extend longitudinally in the web 12.

The strands 14 are laterally spaced with respect to each other.

The web 12 is a weave of fibres of a synthetic plastics material. More particularly, the web 12 is a weave of nylon material. The weave is a 3 & 1 tubular weave with binders.

In addition, the web 12 is coated with a fire retardant material. The fire retardant is a clear liquid fire retardant comprising phosphonic acid salt containing nitrogen. The fire retardant is applied to the web 12 after completion of the weave.

The reinforcing strands 14 are of any corrosion resistant material which is also resistant to cutting or the like. It will be appreciated that, should the reinforcing strands 14 corrode, the efficacy of the webbing 10 will be reduced.

Depending on the width of the web 12, a predetermined number of reinforcing strands are arranged in longitudinally extending, laterally spaced relationship in the web 12. For example, eight such reinforcing strands 14 may be arranged in the web 12.

It is to be noted in this regard that only one of these strands 14 is shown in detail in Figure 1 of the drawings with the remaining strands being represented by dot-dash lines.

Each reinforcing strand 14 is, as indicated above, of a corrosion resistant material. More particularly, each reinforcing strand 14 is of an annealed, stainless steel material. The diameter of each strand is dependent on the application of the webbing 10. Typically, strands 14 having diameters from about 0.1 mm to 0.9 mm are used. In addition, the reinforcing strands 14 are such that, when work hardened, the steel keeps its ductility so as not to become too brittle and easy to break when, for example, the strands 14 are bent back and forth in an attempt to break them. If desired, the web 12

may also include strands of Kevlar material further to reinforce the web 12. to provide additional strength.

To ensure that, by manipulating the web 12 and bending it transverse to its longitudinal axis the reinforcing strands 14 are inhibited from protruding through the web 12, each strand 14 has the shape shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. It is to be noted that each strand 14 has an irregular waveform pattern with a"peak"16 having about half the width of an adjacent"trough"18 and the"peaks"16 and"troughs"18 alternating with respect to each other. With this arrangement, the likelihood of the strand 14 being broken by continuous bending back and forth and, in so doing, protruding through the web 12 is inhibited.

The webbing 10 is intended particularly for use in seatbelt straps. More particularly, the webbing 10 is intended for use with seatbelts in vehicles which transport prison inmates. Prison inmates are known to use these seatbelt webs for nefarious purposes. With the provision of the reinforcing strands 14 the ability of an inmate to cut through the web 12 is inhibited.

Further, by coating the web 12 with a fire retardant material, the ability of an inmate to burn through the web 12 is also inhibited.

A seatbelt made from the webbing 10 will be anchored to a suitable anchoring point of a vehicle by means of a tamper-resistant fixed wire stalk instead of a flexible strap. Also, instead of a plastic buckle, the seat belt has a metal buckle similar to the type used for seat belts in aircraft.

Accordingly, it is an advantage of the invention that belt webbing 10 is provided which lends itself for use in applications where attempts to damage or destroy the webbing may occur.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.