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As I stated I informed my Insurance company by registered letter then called them to verify they had receive dmy letter and that it was OK.

Re the above laws:

"You also ought to be aware that if the police in the UK or France see people being carried in the rear of a vehicle in what they consider to be a dangerous manner, then they have powers that will enable them to prosecute. They do use this to deal with adults or children not using seat belts in the rear of vehicles."

The chances of Police in the UK prosecuting for this is so slight as to be inconsequential as they must prove their case about it being dangerous and as stated one could use the law relating to PSV vehicles and those instance where seat belts are not used.

France? well they make it up as they go along !

I suppose T4 the police have the powers to stop any vehicle if they really do consider that pasengers are being carried around in an extremely unsafe manner - I mean if they saw a motorhome with passengers either standing up or jammed packed inside then it goes without saying that such numbskulls need to be cautioned not only for their own but for fellow motorists safety too. Maybe, like you say it may be difficult to prove in a court of law but hopefully the mere fact that the police have actually stopped them may make them stop and think and cause them to carry on their journey in a more responsible manner and who knows such police intervention may even have saved their lives!

I think this situation like a lot of other situations in life calls for discression and common sense and we personally would never allow any of our passengers to be unduly at risk but I do think that those of us with large motorhomes that are able to sleep 4 or more passengers should be able to carry at least 2 passengers in the rear and as lap belts are considered unsafe, we have little option if our seats are side facing than to carry those 2 passengers unbelted.

Sue

My problem is that a good friend of mine was paralysed from the neck down by a seatbelt.

I got an exemption for myself but as stated I wouldnt wear one even if I wasnt exempt.

What annoys me is the people who so self righteously waffle on about how safe seatbelts are then we see them with a car or camper loaded up to the eyeballs, with nothing secured. THATS dangerous.

Oh how dreadful for your friend T4 - that is so tragic and I can welll understand your fear of and reluctance to use seatbelts - such a tragic event is enough to put doubts in anybody's minds.

I am no expert on such matters and cannot possibly comment on the chances of what happened to your friend ever happening again to another unfortunate person and such a tragedy happening to one other person is one more than anyone would ever want to see it happen to! But I would be interested to hear if there are any statisitics on such matters and how many lives seatbelts have destroyed versus how many they have saved? If anyone can throw any light on how we can find out such information it might be useful for us all to know and be aware of?

Sadly T4 - we will always have people who are hypocritical enough to judge others and who waffle on about what we should and should not do, when they themselves are far from being lily white but I suppose when it comes to safety none of us (and this applies to everyone) can afford to take any uneccessary chances with our own and our loved one's lives and all we can do as responsible and caring adults is to ensure that we do everything humanly possible to make sure we do not put ourselves, our families and others at risk - sadly for a lot of people they only learn this valuable lesson when it is far too late!

Sue