Hello all!
We're non-drivers, but we do have a car seat which we use when friends offer to take us out on a trip, or when we get a taxi anywhere.
Obviously, though, we can't carry the car seat around with us when we're out shopping or whatever, which limits the opportunity for leaping into a taxi when we're tired, or the bus isn't coming, or we've got a lot of shopping, etc.
Recently, though, I was told (by a taxi driver!) that taxi drivers were happy to :
a) take a baby or child who is strapped into their pushchair - if it's one of the big taxis so you can wheel the pushchair right in
or b) carry the child if he or she is sitting on a parent's lap with the seatbelt around both.
Can anyone tell me the legality and safety of this? Is it a matter of it being the passengers' liability, thus the drivers aren't too worried about it? Or is it in fact quite safe and legal? Or, alternatively, was the taxi driver talking rubbish?
Obviously I have no desire to put my daughter at any risk, but it sure would make things a lot easier. It does occur to me that on our frequent bus rides, she is only strapped into her pushchair - presumably the opportunities for accidents are quite strong there, too, though thank God we've never experienced one.
Anyone?