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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why babies can travel in taxis carseat free?

89 replies

FroggyPop · 19/09/2013 00:21

Just that really - there is so much legislation on carseats. I know I paid a lot extra to get a carseat that could keep my DD rear facing for a lot longer as research told me that was safer.

So im just wondering how a baby of any age can sit on a knee in the back of the car and be deemed as safe - I know people did this all the time years ago but surely recent research has disproved this?

OP posts:

pozzled · 19/09/2013 06:14

The taxi rule is simply about practicality. If you don't drive, there are occasions when a taxi is the only way of getting somewhere. If you couldn't get in a taxi becauseyou didn't have a car seat, then you'd be stranded.

For instance- once I was out on public transport late at night. Trains stopped running for some reason. Tried to get a bus, but there was a problem with them as well. So the choice was taxi without a car seat or nothing.

You could argue I suppose that taxi companies should be required to provide a car seat, but they'd have to buy and store something suitable for all different ages/weights, and be trained to fit them etc. I can't see companies liking that- but it would certainly be safer.

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 19/09/2013 06:22

Plus of course, if they've got 2/3 car seats in the boot, then they cant also fit in people's luggage, large items of shopping etc. It's not practical.

LittleAprilStrawberry · 19/09/2013 06:23

DD came home from hospital in a taxi. We don't have a car so don't have a carseat. We were discharged at 1:30am because there wasn't space for us to stay in the postnatal ward. We only live behind the hospital which might have been why the hospital let us. But having given birth 7hours earlier, I wasn't really wanting to walk home.

ChipAndSpud · 19/09/2013 06:25

I agree with a previous poster that it is about balancing practicality and risk.

DS has been in a taxi twice in this country, one taxi company we used had car seats that you could book for an additional £1, but I couldn't get hold of them for the return journey, so DS sat on my lap, otherwise we would have been stranded with no bus service.

The rules are the same in Hong Kong too and DS travelled in a taxi a couple of times sat on my lap. I was less happy about this in Hong Kong as we were travelling on much busier roads, and our taxi journey in the UK was only a 10 minute drive, but sometimes you've just got to do it.

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 19/09/2013 06:30

HK is more of an issue because a relatively large percentage of the population uses taxis on a regular basis- i.e. its there usual mode of transport. I probably get 2/3 per day. However, there its even less practical to use a car seat because in many places you cant even use a pushchair so what do you do with the car seat?

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 19/09/2013 06:30

"their" even [slinks off the grammar purgatory]

sashh · 19/09/2013 06:54

The point im trying to make is surely a taxi on the road is no safer than any other normal car on the road, so why all the strict rules and enforceable fines re unsuitable carseats for dc when it doesnt apply to taxis?

Taxi journeys are usually short, usually 5-10 mins and usually not on motorways. There is no way for a taxi to carry a whole variety of car seats and fit them for every child passenger for a 15 min journey.

Taxis are (should be) driven by professional drivers.

If your child is in a buggy then the same restraint straps used for a wheelchair should be able to be used for a buggy. You can't do that in your car.

NannyR · 19/09/2013 06:55

Only last weekend my sister and 18month old niece got a taxi home from my house. I have a kiddy guardian carseat in my car (very easy to fit), so started to fit it in the taxi. The driver popped open the boot and said it was ok to put it in the boot, she didn't need it in a taxi and would be ok on mums knee.
Needless to say, she was safely strapped in for the journey but his attitude really shocked me.

MrsMook · 19/09/2013 06:56

At a large city centre wedding last year, we got a hackney cab style taxi in so DS (18m) could sit in the buggy, a better option than a lap. We requested one for the return journey when booking. We waited 1 1/2 hours for the taxi and DS was beyond his tiredness threshold. When a people carrier turned up, we had to accept or we would have been there for hours. The chances of a serious accident on 30mph roads (closer to 20mph) is very low. Lugging around a stage 1 car seat is very impractical. What happens if you leave it in a corner and someone knocks it and causes unseen damage? That is a potentially higher long term risk than a one-off short journey.

We coud have needed an emergency taxi after watching the Olympic flame. Fortunately we got on the rammed bus leaving behind 2 buses worth of queues for an hourly service (seriously, when advising people to use a bus for a major event... put some spares on to get people home). The hour's walk home would have become intolerable if DS had begun to scream with exhaustion down my ear. It would also take a lot longer with the additional weight of toddler and carrier on my back. No one with a car seat was avaliable for a pick-up. There has to be some legal leeway for unexpected transport issues.

The irony that amused me was the lap belt on a plane. Totally ineffective for a baby too young to sit that slithers through. I used the baby carrier to support him, but had to take him out for take off and landing. The only thing I can think of is that it would be marginally quicker to unbuckle the lap belt to put baby in a safety aid. I'd much rather have kept him in it when we hit turbulence.

Sockywockydoodah · 19/09/2013 07:01

Not everyone has a car!

Rosduk · 19/09/2013 07:04

It's an insurance issue I believe. I had to take a car seat and my daughter in a taxi to pick up my car and when I asked him if I can put it in he said taxis are not insured for carseats!

SPBisResisting · 19/09/2013 07:09

And yet o other threads about risk the general opiniion is (not necesarily same posters I realise) any risk at all is far too high

pozzled · 19/09/2013 07:09

Rosduk I've never been told that- I've used my own car seats in taxis several times, and always do so if it's practical.

roweeena · 19/09/2013 07:11

It's just common sense practicality really! I have used a taxi without a car seat 10-15 times since my 2yo DS was born - often for emergency, awkward, quick journeys when there was no other option.

It's not that difficult to comprehend surely?

LittleRobots · 19/09/2013 07:12

I'm very surprised at those who came home from hospital without a car seat.

We lived on the edge of London and didn't have a car, so we bought a baby car seat that was easy to transfer and carry (basic Argos mondel). Mainly for the ride home from hospital (we were planning a home birth but wanted to be prepared.) we also thought it would get use if we hired cars in the future (we did) or hot lifts in friends cars.

We didn't even consider not getting one!

LittleRobots · 19/09/2013 07:13

That said I understand needing to go emergencies in a taxi, but giving birth you know is going to happen, my husband went back and got the car seat. Its not exactly unexpected!

TheYamiOfYawn · 19/09/2013 07:15

I don't have a car, but do have a car seat, but the rule makes sense for emergency journeys by taxi. If I took the children to the park and one of them got injured and needed to go to A&E, I would phone for a taxi and go straight to the hospital. If I got off a train to find the busses weren't running, there isn't really a practical alternative to a taxi (phone a friend to drive to the station, pick up my house keys, get the car seat from my house and bring it to the station so that I could get a taxi home? That would have to be a very good friend).

SPBisResisting · 19/09/2013 07:18

Phone a friend with children and a husband who will pick you up with their ow seats leaving rhe husband at home with her own dc?
I do agree. But there was a thread about defibrillators in schools recently and most people were arguing that any miniscule risk to children had to be mitigated. It seems quite common on mn. You suggest the risks are as low as one in a million and get told "ahhh but what if your child is that one?"

BrawToken · 19/09/2013 07:19

I think (but could be very wrong) taxis/buses in town centres are safer as they don't go very fast. I wouldn't travel on a motorway or fast road where we would be going above 30 without a car seat regardless of legislation.

My biggest worry on the bus was someone stumbling and landinng on my small child while they were in there buggy and always took them out for that reason. Sorry for changing the subject!

ShowMeTheCoffee · 19/09/2013 07:26

I was also told that midwives wouldn't let us leave without baby in a carseat. Our PFB left hospital in his carseat but then went home on the tube with DH as we weren't sure how to secure the carseat it in the taxi! He slept the whole way home .

froken · 19/09/2013 07:47

Yanbu.

I can understand the need for taking a small child in a taxi in an emergency but coming home from hospital is not an emergency you know it is going to happen and you should plan a way to take your new baby home safely. Lots of people must have a spare newborn carseat, those with older babies who are planning another baby at some point will just have carseats sitting in storage, you could ask all your friends and there would be a high chance that they or someone they know would have a spare.

The other option would be the mum getting a taxi and the dad pushing tge baby home in a pram/using a sling.

I went in a taxi with ds when he was 5 weeks old, he was having breathing problems and he was turning blue. They insisted he was in a car seat and they drove very fast with the sirens and lights on so I was very glad that he was in a carseat!

froken · 19/09/2013 07:48

Not a taxi, he went in an ambulance at 5 weeks old.

MakeHayIsAWhaleNow · 19/09/2013 07:59

As others have said, practicalities for short journeys.

And taxi firms can be quite obstructive to them - I had to do a reasonably long journey (16 miles) by taxi (which we were only doing because the trains dead fucked up - it was supposed to be walkable), I'd just done a massive train journey with 2.5 yo ds and 4.5 yo dd with luggage for us all for a week - no way could I manage a car seat as well, and no-one the other end had car seats to click us up with. The taxi company was resistant to bringing a car seat for ds at least, eventually agreed then turned up without it because it would have taken too long to put in!!! I was horrified but had no other option, other than to sleep with them both at the station (last train - it was a major BR fuck-up).

Trapper · 19/09/2013 08:17

We left hospital without a car seat in inner London with both DCs. We were asked if we had one and then seemed a bit shocked when we said we were catching the bus - lol.

themaltesefalcon · 19/09/2013 08:22

I was taking my daughter on a long walk when the pushchair collapsed (a cog had come out). Then it started to rain. Thank god for the taxi rule.

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