Getting a car seat fitted in London / Recommendations for belted ERF

[Etherealhedgehog]

Two questions really - firstly does anyone have any recommendations for somewhere good (ie. knowledgeable staff) to recommend and fit a carseat in London? The Car Seat Safety Centre in Milton Keynes looks great but it would be at least 2.5 hrs driving in a day which is a lot with a baby if it can be avoided.... !

Secondly - part of the reason we want expert opinion is we would like to do extended rear-facing, we have no isofix and a Ford Focus with short seatbelts. It looks like our options are limited. There are the various Joie Stages but safety ratings are seemingly not the best? A Britax option. Axkids for a lot more money - which we could stretch to if needed but I'd want to know what benefit I was getting for the extra £200.

Anyone have any recommendations / any options I have missed?

Try Margaret at Rear Facing Toddlers - she is based in Croydon and is very knowledgeable. She will go through all the options with you. The In Car Safety Centre also have a branch in Essex too?

@Sagaris

Try Margaret at Rear Facing Toddlers - she is based in Croydon and is very knowledgeable. She will go through all the options with you. The In Car Safety Centre also have a branch in Essex too?

This. Margaret came to me in S/SE London with a range of seats, fitted and sold me my Axkid.

There's another in car safety centre in Rayleigh, Essex, which might be easier depending where you are in London. You could combine it with a trip to Southend (beach/funfair/fireworks/sealife) or Leigh on Sea for a more chilled out stroll and lunch.

yes to rear facing toddlers! I spoke to Margaret on the phone and she was so so helpful.

my suggestions would be the britax maxway or the axkid move. both are often on offer for under £200.

Thanks all - I had looked at the Essex In Car Safety Centre - it's even further from us but hadn't thought about combining with Leigh on Sea (which we love) - that's a great idea! (Though even as I type this I realise that cockles and a stroll might be less appealing to a 13 month old than it was to use pre-child ). I'll also check out rear-facing toddlers - we're in north London so Croydon is also far, but I'll see what she suggests

We used to bundle ours up in their snowsuits and let them potter on the beach at Leigh, whatever the weather. They loved it. It isn't far on past Rayleigh

I think car seat ninja is Hertfordshire way if that's easier. Have a look at the ERF car seat safety Facebook page as well as they have a lot of independent retailers and fitters on there. We have an Axkid and I do love it. Good luck!

We found the Diono Radian 5 very good for ERF for our very tall and heavy toddler. He is 98th percentile for height and weight and used it rear facing from when he moved out of his baby seat to when he was 3.5 years old. He now uses it forward facing. It does both rear and forward facing with the 5 point harness up to 25kg so that was a big plus for us. We bought online for about £180 as nowhere near us stocked it but I found it ok to install myself after studying the manual really thoroughly. You do need to buy the Diono angle adjuster too so it doesn’t take up too much room at the back when rear facing.