Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[Berkochicks]

Hi there,

 

what do your kids schools do about coach travel. My sons Nursery/foundation class are going on a trip (including a section of motorway.)

 

I have asked about the seat belts, I would like to think there are the ones adjustable to child height but no one can tell me. Last time they went the seat belts were just normal adult belts. My son told me they were made to put the belt under their arm. A friend in the police told me this is the worst way to put on a seat belt as it can decapitate a small child in a high speed accident.

 

We have not been asked to provide booster seats.

 

I think I will insist my son has his booster seat but what about all the other children.

 

I'm I being paranoid, what do other schools do?

 

Donna

[bluekarin]

When one of mine was at pre school they went for a day tip to a farm and I took her car seat. I was the only one who did this. The only trouble was the seat belts were lap belts, if I remember correctly, so not too easy fitting the seat. When they go on school trips now, they just use the coach seat belts.

[Geoid]

On most coaches there is just a lap belt.

[Guest]

Our infant school has a set of booster seats for this purpose.

[Chickvic]

Our school uses coaches with just the lap belts.

[chrisnrob]

I'm a Trustee of a local charity that works with families with children under 5. We wrestled with this issue a couple of years ago and are due to discuss it again at our next Trustees meeting.

 

We always use coaches with three point belts and ask parents to bring appropriate child seats/booster cushions to use with these belts. We also have a small supply of booster seats available to lend to families that don't have their own.

 

However, we have received feedback from staff and parents to say that this system is sometimes not practical. It appears that if you have three seats in a row and use a baby seat or booster seat on one then it makes the other seats difficult to use and/or to fasten the belts on. We have also been told that as soon as the coach is underway, most parents remove their children from the seats and/or undo the belts.

 

There are several issues that we are wrestling with:

 

- Can we insist that parents bring and use appropriate child seats and booster cushions?

 

- If they don't, can we (and would we) refuse to allow them on the coach? This could be very difficult if there's a family of five about to head to the seaside for the day and we refuse to allow them to join the trip as they don't have the appropriate seats.

 

- Can parents decide they don't want to use a child/booster seat and, if so, do we need to get them to sign a disclaimer to that effect?

 

I did some digging around on the internet and it appears that legislation requires:

 

- a forward facing seat belt for each child carried in a minibus or coach when a group of three or more children are on an organised trip and

 

- children under three years MUST use the child restraint (ie, child seat or booster) appropriate for their weight in any vehicle (including vans and other goods vehicles) and

 

- in vehicles where seat belts are fitted, children three to 11 years and under 135cm in height (approx 4ft 5in) MUST use the appropriate child restraint except when travelling in a taxi, if the right child restraint is not available; for an occasional journey over a short distance, if the right child restraint is not available; or where two occupied child seats in the rear prevent a third child seat being fitted.

 

It is something of a headache and I now that other charities, children's centres and nursery schools have simply stopped running any trips at all as it's easier than ensuring that a coach full of children and parents complies with the relevant legislation

 

Any thoughts, comments, observations would be appreciated...

 

Rob

[Berkochicks]

I used to work for a homelessness charity. In the school hols we took the kids by coach on trips. We used Hackney Community Transport coaches. They had adjustable height seat belts but also insisted that younger children were in suitable car seats. The would refuse, and i think quite rightly, to budge until everyone was safely fastened in. We also had our own minibus with car seats and our policy was children had to be in an appropriate seat.

 

When I managed a Day Nursery parents had to supply and fit their own car seat to the hired minibus.

 

Having spent years making other peoples kids safe, I'd like to think the appropriate safety measures are in place for my own son.

 

Donna