An incident happened on Friday that I shall elaborate on that has brought to my attention a need to make owners of the phil and teds buggies more aware of a safety feature that is provided but I don't think anyone takes advantage of.
On Friday my nanny was walking along the Thames with my 4 month old and 3 year old in the sport buggy and had her bag attacked at from behind, in a reaction to this she let go of the buggy for a split second to grab her bag back and her attacker fled. When she swung round the buggy had kept moving, as it has a tendency to do because of the great suspension it has (which is a plus feature) however she was not wearing the safety strap provided and when she grabbed the buggy she couldn?t reach it and it started to speed up down the embankment into the river. She dived in and as the buggy hit the water it tipped forward and my daughter at the back popped out and my son who was only 4 months was strapped in went head first in, but thankfully only for a split second as she managed to grab my daughter and pull the buggy back quickly. She then held them all by standing on a rock still immersed in water until rescue came.
The good news is after a brief spell in hospital all are absolutely fine and home now. But we are all obviously very shaken up and it could have been so very different.
I think the phil and teds is a great buggy but due to it?s great suspension and easy nature to move lightly and quickly it also has a potentially very dangerous feature, so people need to be aware and vigilant of the safety strap. This is the primary difference between an off terrain buggy like this and a standard buggy like the maclaren which would not move of it's own accord easily at all. If you are used to a standard buggy you will not realise this.
Had my nanny been using this strap none of the above events would have happened. Had this happened in traffic then the consequences would have been so much worse.
I am so lucky to be able to write this to you with the way the circumstances worked out but since things could have been so different if my nanny hadn't reacted as quickly as she had, I really want to make all parents aware that they must be vigilant over this one feature. I have been watching the past few days and not one person has used the strap, in fact most have either cut it off or tied it up, and speaking to friends they admit they don't use it, but will now. With the buggy carrying 2 children the momentum is even greater due to the weight. And with it being perhaps the buggy of choice for mums with 2 children, I think it is a really important feature that can save lives.
What happened didn?t have to be a mugging, it could be someone pushing past, or dropping something or your 3rd child distracting you that is walking or heading for danger, anything that means for a split second you could let go of the handlebar. It's advantage is also it's potential downside and I don?t think this is made clear enough when you receive the buggy and therefore I don?t think parents are educated into how the buggy really works and potential pitfalls.
I hope by sharing my story all owners of off terrain buggys will take what happened to us as a warning and now use the strap provided. It is there for a reason and isn?t uncool to use, or an inconvenience. We love the buggy and are buying the same one, but this time with much more knowledge of how to use it safely.
Please can you pass on my experience to as many as possible to get this feature in the parental public eye.