To think taxis are exempt from car seats can't be right?

[gobblegobs]

The background: bring DS over on an 8 hr flight. Dragged a baby car seat with me from our home away from home as was not sure cab company will have one in his size. He is 18 weeks and still has a wobbly head. Had pre booked a cab home from heathrow from a reputable taxi firm.
The cab driver, ever so lovely helps me with the luggage and then pops the car seat in the boot too. I do point out we need to use it, hence my effort in bringing it over. He retorts that taxis are exempt from having a child in a car seat. I am a bit . I do insist on fixing the seat which he grudgingly makes a half hearted effort to.I try and explain about unstable necks etc, he carries on mumbling the law states babies just need to be restrained ie held by mum.
He then gives up and I fix the seat with DS hangigng in the sling.
He is otherwise helpful but I did wonder if the law did actually exempt cabs from having a baby seat.I can may be, if it comes it understand a child being suitably restrained but a newborn(ish)?

Thanks everyone! Its clarified the law for me. I had just not realised as on past few occasions I had mentioned a baby while pre booking the cab and they had always brought a seat with them. Completely understand the logistics though!

TBH I've grabbed a lift home with a friend / got a taxi with DS on days when my pain is really bad, and I simply can't walk any further. I do think they should have some car seats in the taxi office or something, and that when you call up to ask for a taxi, you can ask for them to put a car seat in as well.

Yeah good point r.e the boot space. Best thing is just to buy one of those seat belt clips (when kids are a bit older).
Tbh, having grown up in the days of sliding around on the backseat being a given, I am not all that horrified that you can go in a taxi with no car seat. Obvs is better to have one, but it is a very recent thing.
I recently took a bus with a bunch of kids from a nursery (in a vey posh area) and apparently one of the parents asked if buses had seat belts! Well, they don't. (For anyone that doesn't know this.)'

Yes they are exempt, but I think you have to use if you have one available.

I think exemption is due to practicality - if they required car seats in taxis then I suspect no taxis would be prepared to carry children. Not realistic for taxis to carry baby cars seats, toddler car seats and booster seats. Even with seats with overlapping ages I don't think there is an age 0-12 seat on the market and what if more than 1 child? Black cabs often have integral booster seats in the middle.

SirBoobAlot alright when theres an office as I said before not all operators have offices very few in my town do.

I would hate to lug our ever so heavy Britax evolva round, in face even the newborn seat would be a faff to carry about. I would not like to carry round ds.6 months in the car seat fr any length of time as its si heavy

I used to think that it was a integral booster seat but apparently it's an armrest - been told off for putting DD on it a couple of times now so ahve given up. It does leave a weird gap behind their back TBH. I did get a people carrier as a taxi once in a train emergency and it had an amazing convertible seat - like a transformer, really ended up looking like a proper group 1-2 carseat. Would be a very useful addition to taxis.

yes on the ford galaxy you can have car seats built in bit cabs dont have to have them and if they were to have enough for every cab they would have to have a big office!
even if they had 1 if thats out already you would be stuck,so either take your own or hold them or use bus,buses dont even have seat belt and people use them everyday.

Then theres the problem with pushbikes and motorcycles when carrying a child, no laws to cover them?

What should happen is that all taxis should be required to have a booster/baby car seat in the boot at all times. Why they don't is beyond me.

And which size should they carry>

Beehavingbadly in some of the black cabs they do have an integral booster seat that you lift up and there it is, in others you lift it up and it is just an arm rest!

Just to clarify some PPs, short/unexpected journeys are only exempt for children over 3, along with the 3rd exemption of having two other car seats fitted and being unable to fit a third one in. The exemption for taxis is the only one that can be applied to under 3s.

yanbu, in other countries (at leas in germany) taxis are not exempt. the solution is inbuilt car seats and infant seats available at taxi offices.

We have taken DC in taxis without carseats a fair few times & have never been challenged. It would be utterly impractical to have to take a carseat with us (we don't have a car & sometimes use taxis if we are running late/doing an awkward journey/it's pissing it down).

I don't think there is a massive car seat using culture outside of MN to be honest. I very frequently see children without carseats being dropped off by their parents at dd1's nursery.

My friend is a taxi driver and he keeps a booster seat in his boot incase a parent needs to use it.

Taxis are exempt, but that doesn't mean you can't use a seat. Obviously if you have one available, then you use it! Your driver was just grumpy.

I take my young children in taxis without car seats sometimes. I have 3 under 5, don't drive, and we have regular hospital appointments which are not easily accessible by public transport. I'd rather not do it, but it's the best option. I can't carry 3 car seats as well as manage 3 children, pram, etc. If possible, I book a wheelchair-accessible taxi, and have 2 of them in the double pushchair in the taxi, but those taxis aren't always available.

But what would you do on a train or bus?

I can understand taxis that do an unexpected pick up in the street cannot always have a car seat but I am a foster carer and my kids get picked up in a taxi every day for a school run.... a pre planned journey... and the taxi drivers will not use car seats say 'we are excempt' I cannot supply them cause every morning or night it is a different driver and a different car, I will not have the boys carry car seats into their school so will transport them myself. I just think their is a legal loophole and taxi drivers should at times take responsibility when doing school runs

I think they should be required by law for taxis.
When I was in Spain last year all the taxi drivers kept booster seats in their boots, they don't take up much room and are better than nothing.

Rilla - I don't think carseat use is mainly a MN thing in this day and age, most people with cars use carseats surely?

OP thats right, but its wrong.

I would never ever transport dd in a car (any car) without the correct car seat, until such an age she no longer needs one.

You have to remember that not everyone thinks like mn. My dad is a taxi driver and often has to refuse to pull away until people put seatbelts on their children (usually 8 year olds etc).

He has to point out that he as the driver is liable for their safety, not the parent. He would also receive the £50 fine. He would provide a car seat if possible (driving past his house in way to pick up) but not always possible.

You also need to think about the quality of 'borrowed' car seats. The way I have seen them thrown by hire car companies make me wonder about their safety.

I've thought about this often since having my dd. she's nearly 17 months now and I have often walked home from somewhere if I've not been able to get a train rather than get a taxi. Sometimes I've been soaked too and looked longingly at the black cabs and their inviting orange light but just wouldn't know what to do with my dd for the best. But then again I don't know why I feel safer with her in her buggy on a train than in a taxi?

they are exempt, but it is quite silly imo.
in germany they are not, and they make provisions, i.e. inbuilt seats for older children and the taxi office usually has a range as well that you can pre-book.