Buggy Tug Pram Wrist Strap review

When you're a parent, you spend half your life worrying about dangerous situations that your little ones may get themselves into and thinking up ways to keep them safe. Soft plastic coverings on table corners, socket protectors, door and drawer locks, then - when they're a bit older - knee and elbow protectors for roller skating or cycle helmets are all pretty much standard equipment these days, but it wasn't so long ago, parents would bundle their kids into the back of a car without so much as a seatbelt, let alone a car seat, because people just never really thought about how dangerous it could be.

Well, Buggy Tug is a product that addresses a dangerous issue that many people just don't think about - your pushchair or pram rolling away from you. I remember feeling chilled to the bone watching a couple of stories on the news over the past few years - one was a pram that rolled away from the grandparents pushing it along the seafront and it fell down into the sea below where the baby sadly drowned. Another was horrific footage showing a pushchair rolling off a station platform in front of an oncoming train where, miraculously, somebody managed to grab the child in the nick of time. It's the kind of stuff to give parents nightmares.

Well, Buggy Tug is a simple, low-cost solution to the problem. It didn't look particularly impressive when I pulled it out of the envelope but the important thing is, it works. You simply put it over the pram bar, push the strap through the metal loop, pull it tight and put your wrist through the other end. Done ! It's very strong and also very comfortable - you actually forget it's there.

So does it work ? Well, hopefully I'll never need to find out ! It's like seat belts and airbags - you just have to trust that when the time comes, they will work as they are supposed to and protect you. But they offer immediate peace of mind - should you trip over and let go of the buggy, or if the brake fails, or if a deceptively flat-looking surface turns out to be on an incline or if there's a freak gust of wind, it could prevent a nasty accident from happening.

Given the low cost and the simplicity of use, there's just no reason not to use one. Pram straps have been compulsory in Australia since 2009, following a series of tragic accidents involving prams, and I really think they should be added as a standard accesory to all prams sold in the UK too. To make them even more appealing, it could be an idea to funk them up a bit, adding bright colours or printed designs or diamantes evens, but the plain black does have the advantage of being unisex so dads won't complain about using them too. Whatever the colour, just buy one !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £3.99

for more information : http://www.buggytug.com/

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