Demands to tighten safety laws for young motorcycle passengers following the death of an eight-year-old boy have moved forward.

Eastbourne Tory MP Nigel Waterson has been invited by transport minister Stephen Ladyman to discuss his Parliamentary Bill demanding clear consent from parents for their child to ride pillion.

Sean Pearce-Weston, of Shanklin Close, Eastbourne, died following a crash on the A27 Pevensey bypass near Eastbourne in May last year. He was riding pillion on a family friend's 750cc Honda motorbike when it was in collision with a Ford Fiesta.

His mother, Cassie Pearce, handed a 3,000-name petition to Transport Secretary Alistair Darling last year to get laws introduced banning under-16s from riding pillion.

Mr Waterson's Bill demands that children wear a properly-fitting and specially-designed child's helmet, after it emerged Sean's headgear was ill-fitting.

But he is resisting calls for a blanket ban on children riding pillion.

Mr Waterson first introduced his Bill earlier this year but it made no further progress because Parliament dissolved for the General Election.

He said: "I am delighted that Stephen Ladyman has agreed to meet me and I will be doing my best to persuade him to legislate along the lines of my Bill.

"It is the least we can all do in memory of young Sean."

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) believes more should be done to educate car drivers about motorcyclists, rather than enforce restrictions on them.

A MAG spokesman said: "As tragic as the death of any child is for a parent, the issue of whether the Government should ban children from riding on motorcycles needs to be weighed against the background of the facts.

"If we look at the risk factor relating to young pillion riders, in 2003 two pillion passengers under the age of 16 were killed in motorcycle accidents. MAG regards the existing legislation to be adequate.

"Unreasonably restricting the mobility of families is not justified by the scale of the problem."