safety aspect of 1 year old on a coach

[mckenzie]

We are taking a package type holiday next week with our son who willbe just 1 year old. I'm assuming that the transfer from airport to hotel will be by coach so what do we do with our son? Does he sit on our lap with our seatbelt over him? Do they now have car seats suitable for coach travel that we can hire? What if the coach isn't fitted with any seat belts at all? We're going to Ibiza with Direct Holidays in case anyone has any experience of this travel company.

I do not know about Ibiza specifically but here in Spain using seatbelts is very lax. Most adults and half the children dont use them. Putting on a seatbelt in a taxi offends the driver - as if you dont trust his driving. The school bus and coaches hired for school trips are not fitted with seatbelts at all.

Did you book through a travel agent? Perhaps they could enquire for you. I hope you manage to sort something out anyway.

We did a transfer from Portugal, Faro Airport to our hotel and it was in a mini bus with a child seat provided, which was great. However on the return it was in a coach, so I have to admit to having small dd on my lap. Dds were then 18m and 3 1/2. It's not ideal but we were the last pick up and I didn't feel I could make a fuss, I'd also (wrongly) assumed as it was fine going it would be the same on return and hadn't checked it out. I'd say talk to your agent and check again when your'e there. Have Fun.

We did a transfer from Portugal, Faro Airport to our hotel and it was in a mini bus with a child seat provided, which was great. However on the return it was in a coach, so I have to admit to having small dd on my lap. Dds were then 18m and 3 1/2. It's not ideal but we were the last pick up and I didn't feel I could make a fuss, I'd also (wrongly) assumed as it was fine going it would be the same on return and hadn't checked it out. I'd say talk to your agent and check again when your'e there. Have Fun.

Oops. Don't know how that hapened

I would be very surprised if there was anything. Coach travel is generally encouraged and should involve a fully trained driver mindful of their responsibilities. Coaches around Europe tend to end up in a diff safety category than cars and seat belts to avoid clogging up roads with tourists in hire cars who don't know the way and are tired, unfamiliar with the local driving style etc and so are more prone to accidents.

Prob the only way to address your fears directly is to hire a car with a seat but this leaves you vunerable to the other external dangers. This is prob an issue that could use some attention but in a highly competitive holiday market, I doubt if the agent charging £50 more for the identical holiday but including safety provisions beyond that required by the local law covering small children is going to see themselves maintaining a market share.

Hope it doesn't put a damper on your holiday.

You could borrow a Wilkinet-type child carrier from someone, and tie dd forward-facing onto one of you if you are at all unhappy about what you see when you arrive there. I suggest Wilkinet because the upper weight limit for them is something horrendous like 30lb and they can be tied quite neatly round a toddler on someone's lap. Just a thought - I once saw a friend who needed a lift home with her toddler urgently do this. It does at least mean you aren't clutching dd nervously all the way there.
Hope you all get your late sunshine!

I think generally seat belts are less used in Europe than Britain. I doubt your 1 year old will even be allocated his own seat on the coach let alone one with a child seat or seat belt.

We have in the past wedged our ds at a similar age in a back carrier in the footwell for a short transfer. If you are very concerned could you perhaps hire a car and child seat, although I think elsewhere on this site people have commented that their hired seats have been less than ideal. Otherwise could you take your car seat and take a taxi instead.

Hope you have a good trip nonetheless.

LizS

I am having similar worries about booking a package holiday which has a taxi transfer. The company says they can't book a baby car seat for my ds (7 months) so I would have to bring it from the UK. But I can't be sure it will fit.

The holiday company (Thomas Cook and also Tompsons) are acting like I am the first person who's asked these questions! What does everyone else do, surely I'm not the only one with this problem?

A coach transfer with the baby on my lap doesn't seem much safer.

Any advice welcome.

Have to say I don't see the problem with a baby sitting on my lap during a coach transfer. I would be concerned with a taxi journey, but coaches are safer - they are genearraly driven by experienced drivers and impacts aren't going to have as much effect

on the topic of coach transfers - here is a product that is like a vest with a belt attached that you can hook onto your seatbelt. It's meant for air travel but am considering it myself for coach transfers on hols this yr.

www.primababy.co.uk/prods.html

I saw this product on a tv show for inventors a while ago, looks good. It won't be any use if the coach has no seatbelts though.

I had never occurred to me to worry about this before now! I genuinely wouldn't have thought twice about holding ds on my lap on a coach transfer... obviously very bad mother indeed

I've been concerned about this. We will be transferring by taxi but may hire a car for a few days. I have heard that car seat hire is around £40/week. DH is concerned about our car seat getting damaged in transit. But you can buy a high back booster with integral harness for £35 (less than the hire)which could be reused for other hols/grandparents cars etc. DS will be 2.7 when we go.

DH now whinging about extra backage. And also (more valid) whether or not the seat will fit the car/taxi. How do you get round this problem?

Car seat I have spotted is in Argos BTW.