I am a minicab driver and was charged with allowing a child to sit on an adult's lap. What are the rules regarding carrying children in a vehicle?
I am a minicab driver and have an MPV and am insured to carry six passengers. I was carrying six passengers but four of them were sitting behind the driver’s seat and one child was sitting on an adult’s lap even though there was a spare seat in the boot area. I was stopped by the police and charged with “using a motor vehicle in a manner in which passengers were carried on it being such that danger was caused or was likely to be caused to any person in or on it or on a road contrary to regulation 100(1) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, section42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Schedule 2 to the road Traffic Offenders Act 1988." What are the rules regarding carrying children in a vehicle?
It depends on the age of the child: there are some limited exemptions:
A licensed taxi/private hire vehicle, if the right child restraint is not available. It is impracticable to expect the right child seat or booster to be available in a taxi unless a parent or carer has brought it with them. There is therefore a qualified exception which says that, if child restraints are not available in a licensed taxi or private hire vehicle:
- a child under 3 years old may travel unrestrained but in the rear only - this is the only exemption for a child under 3 years old;
- a child aged 3 years and above must use an adult belt in the rear seat only.
Remember that any child up to 135cm in a front seat of any vehicle must use the correct child seat or booster.
The driver of the vehicle is responsible for ensuring that children under 14 years use the seat belts or child restraints available (except in a taxi with a fixed partition).