The Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts by Children in Rear Seats) Regulations 1989

Interpretation of reference to availability

6.—(1) An appropriate seat belt shall not be regarded as being available for a child for the purposes of regulation 5(2) unless such a belt is regarded as available to him by virtue of paragraph (2) below.

(2) Subject to paragraph (5) below, if any rear seat in a vehicle is provided with a seat belt which is appropriate for a particular child (“the child in question”) that belt (“the relevant belt”) shall be regarded as available for that child for the purposes of regulation 5(2) unless–

(a) another person is wearing the relevant belt and it is an appropriate belt for that person;

(b) another person is occupying the seat and wearing some other seat belt, that other belt being an appropriate belt for that person;

(c) another person, being a person for whom there is a medical certificate, is occupying the seat;

(d) the child in question is prevented from occupying the seat by the presence of a carry cot which is restrained as mentioned in regulation 5(1)(b) and in which there is a child aged under 1 year;

(e) the child in question is prevented from occupying the seat by the presence of a correctly secured child restraint which–

(i) is not appropriate to his weight in accordance with the indication of weight shown on the marking referred to in regulation 47(7) of the Construction and Use Regulations, and

(ii) could not readily be removed without the aid of tools;

(f) in the case of a seat that is specially designed so that–

(i) its configuration can be adjusted in order to increase the space in the vehicle available for goods or personal effects, and

(ii) when it is so adjusted the seat cannot be used as such,

the configuration is adjusted in the manner described in sub-paragraph (i) and it would not be reasonably practicable for the goods and personal effects carried in the vehicle to be so carried were the configuration not so adjusted;

(g) the child in question has attained the age of 1 year but not the age of 4 years, the relevant belt is an adult seat belt and there is no booster cushion in or on the vehicle that is not being used by a child in that age range who is wearing an adult seat belt.

(3) Paragraph (2)(b) above shall not apply unless the presence of the person renders it impracticable for the child in question to wear the relevant belt.

(4) Paragraph (2)(d) above shall not apply if it would be reasonably practicable for the carry cot to be carried in any other part of the vehicle where it could be restrained as mentioned in regulation 5(1)(b) so as to render it practicable for the child in question to wear the relevant belt.

(5) An adult seat belt shall not be regarded as available for any child for the purposes of regulation 5(2) if–

(a) it has an inertia reel mechanism which is locked as a result of the vehicle being, or having been, on a steep incline, or

(b) it does not comply with the requirements of regulation 48 of the Construction and Use Regulations.

(6) A seat belt shall be regarded as provided for a seat for the purposes of this regulation if–

(a) it is fixed in such a position that it can be worn by an occupier of that seat, or

(b) it is elsewhere in or on the vehicle but–

(i) it could readily be fixed in such a position without the aid of tools, and

(ii) it is not being worn by a person for whom it is appropriate and who is occupying another seat.