Why you should never put a car seat on a shopping trolley

But a mum's shocking Facebook post has revealed why resting the car seat on the trolley – even for a moment – can be disastrous.

Luckily, Lindsey Wisnewski had her baby strapped to her front in a baby carrier at the time this photo was taken – but she was so shocked by how easily the whole thing tipped over so quickly that she took the picture below to warn other parents of the dangers.

"So this just happened. I was strapping my pre-schooler into his car seat and the wind slightly caught one wheel and the weight of the infant car seat pulled the whole thing down over the curb," she wrote on Facebook.

"Please, please, please parents do not put the car seat on the top part of the cart! Any car seat technician will tell you that it's extremely unsafe.

"I post this without judgement, as I myself did this with both boys. Up until about 2 years ago, I thought the seat was safe since it clicks into place. But the car seat in the picture was 'locked' into place.

"(And sure, had my baby actually been in the seat, I wouldn't have left it unattended. But accidents happen in the blink of an eye)."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) confirmed to MFM that car seats should never be used on shopping trolleys.

"Child car seats are designed to be used in vehicles, and one of the main reasons they are so effective is that they have to be securely fitted, either by the vehicle’s seat belts or into its Isofix points," Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA said.

"They are not designed to be used on shopping trolleys and they can’t be securely fitted to them. Therefore our advice is not to use a child car seat on a shopping trolley."

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