Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 12 13

Original poster

To think my Dad was being totally reckless when he took DS upstairs in our local department store via the....

308 replies

DollyDaisy · 20/12/2011 22:46

escalator? DS is 8 months old and was in his pram at the time!

I was furious as thought Dad was following me to the store's lift. But apparently it was quicker to take the direct route and he just wedged the bugaboo onto the escalator and up they went.

Mum was horrified too.....but the DH couldn't see the problem either. Or are all men in my family just totally clueless?

OP posts:

alistron1 · 20/12/2011 23:12

I once saw a woman nearly drop a pushchair down an escalator. Luckily for her there was a sturdy bloke downwind of her who saved the day. Escalators and buggys/pushchairs/prams do not mix IMHO.

yellowraincoat · 20/12/2011 23:15

Yeah but SnowFun, how likely is it that the escalator would stop? In my whole life, I've been on one escalator that stopped.

thefurryone · 20/12/2011 23:16

OP I don't think YABthatU but then I've never lived in London with a baby and rarely go anywhere with escalators so generally the only choice I have is to go in the lift. I don't think I'm particularly PFB but I am very clumsy so it would be a situation I'd strive to avoid.

RomanChristingle · 20/12/2011 23:17

I've only been on the tube once. How do people on their own in wheelchairs use it if there are no lifts?

Pishtushette · 20/12/2011 23:18

I was really worried about doing it for the first year or so, but living in London you don't really have much choice. Sure you can take a bus, but most drivers won't let more than 3 pushchairs on.

MsEltoeNWhine · 20/12/2011 23:18

There's an identified risk of taking your baby up and down the stairs at home too, shall we all live in bungalows?

yummumto3girls · 20/12/2011 23:18

DollyDaisy, it's nothing to do with PFB, I wouldn't do it with no.3! Don't ever do something you don't feel comfortable with just because everyone say that they do it. Why put your child at risk when there is an alternative option just for the sake of saving a few minutes. Quite frankly after reading some of the horror stories on here I am even more against doing it!

miaowmix · 20/12/2011 23:19

I'm surprised I haven't actually died in London, what with all the danger and all

MsEltoeNWhine · 20/12/2011 23:20

I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't take a lift either, I use the stairs.

Greythorne · 20/12/2011 23:21

Chazs
my post was ironic :)
Just loving the stealth boast about it being a Bugaboo
When people have paid upwards of £500 for a pushchair, they really have to brag about it at evey opportunity
I have a Gracco

manicinsomniac · 20/12/2011 23:22

I have done it. Not often but I'm scared of lifts so if I really had to have the pushchair and had to go upstairs and had nobody to help me carry the pushchair up the steps then I used the escalator.

YANBU though, it's a bad idea and officially not allowed in most places

2rebecca · 20/12/2011 23:22

If I'm going down an escalator with a push chair I keep the front wheels in the air in front of the step and just have the back wheels on the step in front of me with the wheels level with each other so child comfortable and not tilted. That way when you reach the bottom the front wheels go straight on the ground and you wheel it off easily, I usually lift the back wheels slightly when going over the join. When going up the front wheels are on the step and the back wheels are held up in the air, when the escalator flattens the back wheels go on the flat escalator and I lift up the front wheels over the join. I don't load up the push chair though so it is easy to manipulate. I think you have to be cautious but confident on an escalator with push chairs and leave room between the person in front of you and your push chair.
Both the examples above of people jamming their push chairs in the escalator going down sound as though they didn't clear the front wheels properly and had push chairs that were too heavy for them.
I would never go up and down escalators with a push chair I couldn't easily manoevre and lift front or back wheels up as necessary.

AitchTwoOHoHoHo · 20/12/2011 23:23

i would go up but not down. always felt better being beneath the buggy so that when we came to the end i could tip it up and over and not touch the scary teeth at all.

Whatmeworry · 20/12/2011 23:23

I'm surprised I haven't actually died in London, what with all the danger and all

You have....London is Hell :o

PickleLittle · 20/12/2011 23:24

For those of you unsure of the risks -

My husband is a lift engineer and has told me to pass on to you that it is horrendously dangerous, if the wheel gets caught on the side bit (that doesn't move) the buggy can flip - whether you are holding it or not! Much like this ... If that was to happen half way down, the childs face would be ripped to shreds by the steps.
They often find mangled up croc shoes down the sides of the skirts of the escalators where they have been ripped off peoples feet which proves how powerful they are.

also...
I used to work in a large high street shop and once witnessed a women going down an escalator with a 3 wheeled buggy as she got to the bottom the wheel turned to the side and locked against the bottom plate, the buggy didn't flip but the mum fell over it and the poor women behind fell down the side of the buggy and had a chunk of her elbow ripped off - thank god there was no one else behind her because it could have been so much worse.

1 more -
In a different high street shop where I was working - somebody reversed their sons wheelchair onto the escalator and halfway up he fell out and down ... the steps really do rip your face to shreds :(

I know all of these are quite extreme and not at all common but I wouldn't risk it.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 20/12/2011 23:26

Greythorne

Thumbinnapuddingwitch · 20/12/2011 23:26

romanchristingle - fair enough but that just suggests lack of commonsense - I always used to lift the front wheels off the step to make sure they would come down facing the right way ready to go and not get stuck. Still, it's a risk and yes you're right, if you can avoid it, why not?

but it's not "totally reckless" to do it and I'm glad the OP has realised that.

becstar - that sounds terrible, you poor thing! There are some dreadfully pushy people on tubes, I nearly got knocked flying on one escalator by a big bloke and his briefcase while I was a student in London - rude bugger!

whethergirl · 20/12/2011 23:27

Im fairly laid back but im amazed at so many people here willing to take an identified risk with their babies. It's called 'living in London' Amberleaf.

When DS was in a buggy I was on the tube escalators all the time, many times during rush hour. Not once did the escalator stop or anything anywhere dangerous happen. I would take care when I was doing it, it's not like I'd be doing it blindfolded and holding the pram with one finger.

Of course accidents happen but they happen anywhere. I'm pretty sure statistically accidents on escalators involving prams are pretty low.

miaowmix · 20/12/2011 23:30

whatmeworry maybe I'm already dead? This does feel a bit like living in a parallel universe

Feminine · 20/12/2011 23:30

I agree whethergirl living in London is a challenge everyday.

Londoners tend to take using the pram and escalators in their stride!

alistron1 · 20/12/2011 23:31

So do all of you who think that escalators/buggies are fine not put your kids in car seats? Or fit stair gates? I mean, accidents happen anywhere....

RomanChristingle · 20/12/2011 23:32

Fucking Hell Pickle I don't think I'll be viewing that video!

Look shops etc do not want to make it difficult for customers to access what they are selling on different floors. The signs are there for the safety of you and the other people using the escalators. If people want to ignore them there's not a lot anyone can do.

RomanChristingle · 20/12/2011 23:34

Are there no lifts in the underground then? So people on their own in wheelchairs can't use it?
There is one tiny lift in the underground where I live. You have to wait quite a long time for it at busy times but I would rather that than chance it on the escalator.

PickleLittle · 20/12/2011 23:35

Sorry should have said the video is of a pram with shopping bags in it, not a baby.

Crosshair · 20/12/2011 23:35

I think its your risk to take and not your dads. yanbu.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 12 13