Black cabs and babies???

[lalibela]

After a nightmare day yesterday lugging a pram and an enormous pile of textbooks on the bus during rush hour in London, I really wished I'd taken a cab home. But, can you take a black cab with an enormous bugaboo pram? Is it illegal if you don't have a car seat? Do taxis have baby seats built in?

I have to do the same journey in a couple of days time with even more books, so if anyone has the answers they'll be helping my stress levels enormously!

Yes, taxis are exempt from the law. I take ds in black cabs in his pushchair sometimes. Where the flip up seats are there are seatbelts which I put around the pushchair or through the back of the frame and I make sure that ds is strapped in properly and the pushchair is facing the rear. The best position is the flip up seat that isn't behind the driver as there is a bit more space there.

Whenever I've taken a black cab with a baby I've sat with them on my lap or in their pushchair. I have never heard of a fatal accident involving a black cab tbh.

tbh black cabs where you can put the pushchair straight in and strap it in facing backwards (as bran says) are a sight safer than minicabs where you have to fold the pushchair in the boot and hold the baby on your lap - I'm not in London so have a private stash of numbers of minicab firms who'll send a black taxi not a saloon for this very purpose.

The good ones even have ramps meant for wheelchairs so you can wheel the pram straight it...

Black cabs are your friend. I've done this too in a black cab with a bugaboo, strapping them behind the fold down (or even just wedging the pushchair in) - the London taxis are pretty accustomed to it. Now ds is older (2 1/2) we have recently started putting him on our knee with seatbelt on as he won't stay in the pushchair when in a cab anymore.

Minicabs are more problematic and we didn't use them at all until recently when he could go on our knees a bit more safely. As someone else said, it is not illegal though.

We had to get a black cab unplanned when in London as DH could not face the walk to the station after having done the London marathon . DD1 (4) sat in the middles of us and I was amazed that the belt adjusted to fit her perfectly and dd2 (22mth) stayed in the pushchair for the journey. It is one of the few times I have not worried about car seats. I knew we needed to get to the station and this was the only way we were going to make it, so we got on with it.
I think it is common practice tbh. My sis who lives in London was with us and didn't raise an eyebrow and she has a precious ds (11 mths) and knows of my car seat paranoia.
I would get the black cab.

my bil is a cabbie and his cab has a little booster seat that pulls down in the middle