If a product has a health and safety restriction, is the retailer obliged to tell you about before the sale?

[lowrib]

I bought a buggy which has a weight restriction of 15kg, but we only found this out many weeks after buying it, when we looked at their website.

The shop didn't display this info in the shop, and the sales assistant didn't tell us about it.

Legally, should they have told us about this restriction?

I am being lambasted over in AIBU for not checking this myself, but although it's obvious what the sensible thing to have done was (ask!) I wondered if anyone knows the actual legal position?

If this was an unusually low weight restriction you might have a case but it isn't. The vast majority of buggies sold in the UK have a 15kg restriction. That doesn't mean they can't handle heavier children, just that they've only been tested to 15kg (this being the typical weight of a 3 year old boy I understand). I believe there are a few all terrain models with a higher restriction.

If the shop had advertised the buggy as having a 20kg restriction you would have a case. Equally if you told the shop that you wanted a buggy capable of handling a child up to 20kg and they then sold you this model you would have a case. Just having your child with you doesn't count, I'm afraid. Shop assistants are not expected to be able to judge the weight of toddlers.

So I'm afraid I don't think the shop has done anything wrong legally. Sorry.