Safe way for 6yo to travel in seat w/ just lap belt?? Help!

[Newbie887]

Hi

In the summer will be going travelling in a school bus we have converted to a motorhome. We’ve kept two of the original seats (which will seat the four of us who aren’t driving - three kids and one adult) and have retrofitted isofix points to them both so all three kids can be in five point harness car seats.

The problem is this was all done a couple of years ago and our eldest is now too big for the five point car seat. There are also lap belts fitted to the seats for adults to use. I’m not happy with him travelling using one of these, but we can’t work out how to fix a three point harness to the seat instead due to where it’s placed and the type of seat it is. Is there a solution to this I’m not seeing?! Anyone know of a booster seat for an older child that can be used with just a lap belt, that has its own harnesses ie doesn’t use the cars 3 point belt?

Thanks :)

I’m 99.9% sure what you want doesn’t exist.

It would be impossible to make a seat for an older child that worked on isofix alone as isofix only holds up to around 18kg.

I’m guessing that the problem with a booster seat that only uses a lap strap is that there’s nothing to stop the child’s body from flipping forwards in the event of a collision. Although it’s not illegal, it is risky.

Is this not illegal? I know a pp says not but id think so. The 6 year old will still be young enough to need at least a booster and obviously a full belt with that. My eldest is nearly 9 and still in a high back booster that is attached by isofix and uses a full belt.
Anyway even if its not illegal its a risk I wouldn't take.

Can you fit a 3 point belt somehow? I've not seen any type of booster for older kids that only uses a lap belt.

There are specialist car seats with 5 point harness that take you right up to adulthood for people with disabilities. However they still require a 3 point belt and are really expensive.

@Rewritethestars1

Is this not illegal? I know a pp says not but id think so. The 6 year old will still be young enough to need at least a booster and obviously a full belt with that. My eldest is nearly 9 and still in a high back booster that is attached by isofix and uses a full belt. Anyway even if its not illegal its a risk I wouldn't take.

It can't be illegal because schools do trips in busses all the time. My 4 year old went on a school bus at Christmas as part of their school trip and that just had the lap belts. I was nervous about it as she is tiny for her age and still sits in her joie 360 in our car but she was fine

Hi all, thanks for the messages & for confirming what I’d already thought was true!

After a bit of googling I came across these portable car seats for use on US / Canadian school buses:

www.suburbanseats.com/products/hsm-ce-white-portable-child-restraint

www.imminet.com/products/safeguard/superstar/

They work via straps that go around the whole seat, because there is a gap between seat and backrest that the straps can pass through. I think this is the same on U.K. buses too (although our conversion is a Canadian bus). They don’t need any other belts to be fitted onto the seat and provide proper restraint for 25-65lbs (1st) or 25-90lbs (2nd). I’ve emailed them companies asking if they would ship to the U.K.

Will try to remember to update this post when I hear back from them for others who may be in the same situation in the future. I think they would be good for retrofitting to older motor homes generally, where lap belts or sometimes no belts were common.

To clarify some of the messages above, it’s not illegal to have a child aged 3+ in a lap belt or even with no belt strangely enough as long as they are travelling in the back seat and there are no three point belting options there:
www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/when-a-child-can-travel-without-a-car-seat

The school bus we have didn’t have belts on any of the seats because it used a “compartmentalisation” model of safety, ie the seats were close enough together and with highly padded backs so kids would be only thrown a short distance and into a padded surface on impact. A big like an egg box. However this model is used in buses that are doing slow speeds around towns, we will be using motorways and mountain roads with drops next to them etc. if there’s an accident on one of these types of roads it may be at a higher speed than a school bus would normally be doing and / or could involve the bus rolling onto its side or top. The compartmentalisation model is not safe in these crash scenarios hence why I feel all children in motor homes should be properly strapped in even if it’s not a requirement 👍.