Keeping Your Child Safe in a Taxi Transfer – The BFW Approach

The notes on UK Law and Airlines are provided for information only, you should undertake your own research, particularly as information from Government Bodies and Airlines can change, links are provided to assist with this.  

• Our Approach

• Airlines

• UK Law

Our Approach to Child Safe Airport & Long-Distance Transfer

1. Rear Seat Travel: For safe child transfer, all children of any age must travel in the rear seat of our vehicles.

2. Child Restraints: Children should be secured in a suitable car seat or use a seat belt if they are 3 years or older.

• Our drivers will refuse to carry passengers if they are not secure in the vehicle.

• Babies cannot be carried on a parent’s knee.

1. Providing Your Own Car Seats: We kindly request that you provide your own car seats for babies, toddlers, and children. If you’re not taking them with you, we’ll fit and store them for your return journey.

2. Minibus Car Seat: In our Minibus, we offer a Jolie Titan Maxi Cosi forward-facing car seat suitable for children aged 15 months to 12 years.

• The general guidance is that it is better to keep children rearward facing until the age of 4, the legal requirement if up to 15 months. We encourage you to provide your own seat wherever possible.

• Let us know in advance if you need to use our seat.

1. Advance Notice: Please inform us if:

• Any passengers are children under 12 years old or 135 centimetres tall.

• You plan to use a car seat in the vehicle.

• You need the car seat stored for your return journey.

• You’d like to use our Jolie Titan Maxi Cosi set in the Minibus.

1. Fitting Instructions: To stay on schedule and ensure a timely arrival at your destination, please have everything ready to fit the seat(s) into the vehicle. Our drivers may not be familiar with all types of car seats.
   

Your child’s safety is our priority, and we appreciate your cooperation! 🚗👶🏽

Can you take a car seat on the plane?

Simple answer is check with your airline, if you can, you will have to book a seat for them as the car seat will take up a seat for another passenger. You then have the complication of checking, is my seat airline approved? If it’s not, your seat will have to be checked into the hold along with prams and other luggage. The simple rule is, check with your airline.

Not all aircraft are the same and neither are the seats, an example of this would be Virgin and BA, you can take a compliant seat in Economy, but you can’t take one in their more expensive seats as the seat belts have airbags so can’t be used with a car seat.

To be compliant the car seat must:

• Be designed so that it can be fitted using the single lap strap type harness you get on planes

• Have a separate 5-point restraining harness

• Not exceed the dimensions of the aircraft seat

• Must be secured to the plane seat at all times of the flight

• The seat also must display information that indicates its approval for use by the relevant country.

Most importantly, check with your airline.

Here are some useful links to child seat guidance for the most common carriers:

UK Law for Car Seats

UK Law is very clear on the use of car seats, most parents will be generally aware of the requirements but may not know the detail and when it comes to taxis, the rules vary.

The following is extracted direct from the UK Government website, full text can be found here.

Using a child car seat or booster seat

Children must normally use a child car seat until they’re 12 years old or 135 centimetres tall, whichever comes first.

Children over 12 or more than 135cm tall must wear a seat belt.

You can choose a child car seat based on your child’s height or weight.

Height-based seats

Height-based seats are known as ‘i-Size’ seats. They must be rear facing until your child is over 15 months old. Your child can use a forward-facing child car seat when they’re over 15 months old.

You must check the seat to make sure it’s suitable for the height of your child.

Only EU-approved height-based child car seats can be used in the UK. These have a label showing a capital ‘E’ in a circle and ‘R129’.

Weight-based seats

The seat your child can use (and the way they must be restrained in it) depends on their weight.

Only EU-approved weight-based child car seats can be used in the UK. These have a label showing a capital ‘E’ in a circle and ‘ECE R44’.

You may be able to choose from more than one type of seat in the group for your child’s weight.

Fitting a child car seat

You must only use a child car seat if your car’s seat belt has a diagonal strap, unless the seat is either:

• specifically designed for use with a lap seat belt

• fitted using ISOFIX anchor points

You must also:

• deactivate any front airbags before fitting a rear-facing baby seat in a front seat

• not fit a child car seat in side-facing seats

The Child Car Seats website has information on how to choose a seat and travel safely with children in cars.

When a child can travel without a car seat

A child aged 3 or older can travel in a back seat without a child car seat and without a seat belt if the vehicle doesn’t have one.

In most cases, children under 3 must always be in a child car seat.

The rules are different if:

• the child is in a taxi or minicab

• the child is in a minibus, coach or van

• the child is on an unexpected journey, for example an emergency

• there’s no room for another car seat

Taxis and minicabs (private hire vehicles)

If the driver doesn’t provide the correct child car seat, children can travel without one - but only if they travel on a rear seat:

• and wear an adult seat belt if they’re 3 or older

• without a seat belt if they’re under 3

Minibuses, coaches and vans

Minibus or coach drivers and companies don’t have to provide child car seats. You must provide your own if you want to make sure a child has one.

Minibuses

All children must travel in rear seats (any seats behind the driver) if a child car seat or an adult seat belt isn’t fitted.

Children aged 3 or older must:

• use a child car seat if there’s one available in a minibus

• use an adult seat belt if child car seats are not fitted or are unsuitable

Unexpected journeys

If the correct child car seat isn’t available, a child aged 3 or older can use an adult seat belt if the journey is all of the following:

• unexpected

• necessary

• over a short distance

You can’t take children under 3 on an unexpected journey in a vehicle without the correct child car seat, unless both of the following apply:

• it’s a licensed taxi or minicab

• the child travels on a rear seat without a seat belt

No room for a third child car seat

Children under 3 must be in a child car seat. If there’s no room for a third child car seat in the back of the vehicle, the child must travel in the front seat with the correct child car seat.

Children aged 3 or older can sit in the back using an adult belt.