US car seats in the UK

I know there is a sticky topic above about car seats in the UK, but it was written almost 10 years ago, and I was wondering if anything has changed.

I have two Britax seats (one being a full 5 point harness seat for a 3 year and the other a booster with back for my 5 year old) and was hoping I would be able to bring them along. I know the size might be a problem in a smaller cars but are they legal to have?

Any help is appreciated.
TIA 

Unfortunately they are not legal.  In the U.K., 5 point harnesses are not allowed as the requirement is that a single release is required.

The issue will be that your insurance will be void.  The seats will likely fit and be perfectly safe - just not legal.   

Well, poop! That's a bummer. Those britax seats are pricey, thought I was buying them for the long haul.

Guess they will now be saved for holidays at Gramma & Grandpa's house in Pennsylvania.

Thanks for the response KFdancer. Any suggestions on where to buy a good seat? Amazon.co.uk?

Hi,

Although I'm not a parent myself (at least that I know of!) my almost 3 year old nephew and 7 month old niece have numerous car seats some of which can be transferred amongst the families cars. I haven't really paid attention to the choosing of them, all I know is that where possible, various features were evaluated, safety records checked and a test sit where possible to see if they suited the child was done. I guess you could buy directly online without any test sits etc too but if you find it's not quite suitable, then it's the hassle of returns after you've gone out and purchased another etc

Check Mothercare stores to test sit your child into to begin your evaluations. I'm sure there's other places you could try but again, I've not paid much attention as to where.

Cheers, Dennis!

We have fancy expensive car seats too. We have the Cybex Sirona which is rear facing until 4 years old, but you won't need that as yours are a bit older.

I agree with DTM and would recommend looking at Mothercare or one of the Car Seat Safety Centres (there are a few scartered around the country).

And I will say that my daughter has chest straps that we've added to her car seats (one in each car), as she went through a phase of pulling her arms through.  We decided we'd rather be illegal and have a kid who wasn't ejected from the car. 

We have fancy expensive car seats too. We have the Cybex Sirona which is rear facing until 4 years old, but you won't need that as yours are a bit older.

I agree with DTM and would recommend looking at Mothercare or one of the Car Seat Safety Centres (there are a few scartered around the country).

And I will say that my daughter has chest straps that we've added to her car seats (one in each car), as she went through a phase of pulling her arms through.  We decided we'd rather be illegal and have a kid who wasn't ejected from the car.

Had to laugh. We don't often agree, KFDancer, but you have excellent taste in car seats. We've got a cybex sirona as well, and sing it's praises.

Had to laugh. We don't often agree, KFDancer, but you have excellent taste in car seats. We've got a cybex sirona as well, and sing it's praises.

I love the swivel!

But for taraat, you will find having car seats already at the grandparents house VERY nice for when you travel!

Halfords is the big car store here and will have a big selection of car seats and supposedly know how to fit them.  I would doubt the latter as most Halfords employees are the cheapest they can find, mostly 17 year olds without a clue.

I believe that you can also stop by a fire station and they will check that a seat is fitted properly.

If you are taking a mini cab from the airport you might want to specify that you need car seats. 

My husband's aunt worked for Mothercare for over twenty years and has recently changed jobs to an independent shop that sells children's clothes, prams and car seats. Both these retailers insist on their staff being certified (yes, there's a course) on fitting car seats in vehicles and knowing all the laws on acceptable car seats depending on the age of the child. It's a service that these types of retailers are well-versed on all the features and benefits of their stock. I don't think you'll get the same care at Halfords, from my experience, but it may have changed.


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You also will not be able to find an extended harnessed seat here unless you are willing to pay £300. I could NOT find a harnessed seat that went past 40# when I moved (my kids were 5 and 42# each) so they are in high backed boosters here. I had to really search for ones narrow enough to fit two of them in, plus a 12yo in the back.

Thanks everyone for the info.

Now my booster (for the 5 year old) should be fine, correct? It uses latch and tether and uses the regular seat belt. Or is this not allowed?

Wow, I had no idea that some US car seats are illegal in the UK! We're using our US-bought Britax infant car seat that has a single-release, I hope that's okay! Our toddler car seat is a British one at least.

From the Gov.uk site on car seats:
https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

"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’."