After a recent visit to Worcester by Train, one of our regular customers contacted us to ask about child car seats and where we stand as Taxi Drivers and the new UK child seat laws and restrictions. Ms Jones and her young daughter were sent away from a Worcester Taxi Rank for not having the correct baby car seat with her.
The Cheltenham Taxi website is of the view that the Worcester Taxi driver involved was properly a bit keen when it comes to road safety, or may not have been aware of the exemptions for Children who travel via Taxi. It can be a hard shout for Taxi drivers, as they are legally responsible for ensuring children under 14 are belted up correctly whilst travelling in their Taxi.
Children are exempt from the child car seats laws whilst travelling in a taxi, as long as a certain criteria is met:
Children under 3 may sit on an adults lap in the rear of a Taxi, as long as the adult is wearing a seatbelt –the seatbelt must only be around the adult and not the baby.
Children 3 years and over may sit in the rear of a taxi using just the seatbelt, if the correct baby car seat or booster seat for the child’s age and weight is not available.
No child under the age of 13 and less than 135cm in height may travel in the front seat of a taxi.
If you are planning a Taxi journey for an advanced date, there maybe sufficient time to arrange for the correct child car seats to be available.
Just the same as with a bus or a train, a Taxi will not have the right size baby car seats with them for your children, nor would anyone expect you to carry several different child or booster seats around with you whilst travelling on public transport.
If you booked a Cheltenham Taxi in advance to take you and a child to the airport, we would be more than happy to hold on to your baby car seat for you and make it available for you on the return journey.
Disclaimer.
This is not safety advice for your children when using a Taxi service, it just our interpretation of current UK child seat legislation. If you need advice, please contact your local road safety unit at your local authority.
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