Babies in taxis
you have to have your baby in a car seat to leave the hospital.
why would you not buy a car seat, even for taxis your baby is way safer in a car seat than on your lap, and the law is the same for any car including taxis if you can use a car seat use it, if the child is old enough to sit on a booster seat the black cabs have one fitted, its the pull down bit in the middle of the seats. i think you should get a cheap car seat for car journeys if you go on long journeys like longer than the shops.
you can borrow one from hospital or a friend just to bring the baby home. talk to the hospital about it though.
good luck and congrats
why would you not buy a car seat, even for taxis your baby is way safer in a car seat than on your lap, and the law is the same for any car including taxis if you can use a car seat use it, if the child is old enough to sit on a booster seat the black cabs have one fitted, its the pull down bit in the middle of the seats. i think you should get a cheap car seat for car journeys if you go on long journeys like longer than the shops.
you can borrow one from hospital or a friend just to bring the baby home. talk to the hospital about it though.
good luck and congrats
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Replies
as far as i know the hospital wont let you leave without a car seat, they watch you putting the baby in it!
maybe just borrow one for the journey home, and then just use your sling. i dont drive and am hardly ina car but i do have a car seat for the odd occasion im in my friends car and we sit him in it as a seat in the house becasue he doesnt like his bouncy chair.
Either that or I would put out a plea online or with the hospital to borrow a carseat in order to get LO home, there may very well be a nice lady on here who will help out.
Cent
xx
You may have to find a way to pick it up from someone, but as you only post to your local groups you would hopefully find someone not too far away.
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xxx
Please borrow a car seat its not worth it xxx
Good luck, where abouts in London are you? I was at Chelsea and Westminster.
Also Addison Lee don't do baby seats, I asked for one when they took us home and they said they only had them for older children and babies were ok to be held on laps. (though don't know if thats all the time or just happened they didn't have one when I needed one)
xx
Me too, and same again the midwife's have never checked how i was getting home or if i had a car seat with either babys. I think its quite a dated thing tbh but maybe there just slack at my hospital? xx
Anyhoo it is an important topic. We lived in London when Toby was born (at St Thomas's) and didn't have a car. Even though we had no intention of buying a car we still bought a carseat for the occasional minicab ride or if we hired a car for holidays. So we used that in the taxi home (not a black cab) from hospital.
After that I used taxis often. If I was out and about and decided to get a cab home I just rolled the pram into a black cab. If I was at home and needed a cab to an appointment or something I would order a minicab and use the car seat.
I personally would never just hold my baby in a car, even in a sling. I'm sure it's probably safe but I would never forgive myself if something happened so I always use a carseat or pram in taxis.
C
I realise the original posters baby is probably at least 3 years old now but for any current mums to be:
You do not require to use a car seat in a taxi as they are exempt. However please DO NOT leave baby in pram in back of a hackney taxi when travelling, this is much more dangerous than holding baby on your lap, do not do it.
I work in a taxi company and so many people phone asking for a hackney car so they can keep baby in pram and we always explain that they must take baby out. If you were involved in a serious accident the baby would go flying out the pram.
Most reputable companies have booster seats and if you request a baby seat in advance it can be provided but obviously the cannot all carry baby seats as they are too bulky to keep in taxi.
However no matter how small a journey i would always put my baby in a car seat.
Also you should not use one from someone you do not know because you must ask if its ever been in an accident, if it has it shouldn't be used (just like a bike helmet, it weakens them).
HTH xxx