We are delighted to announce that Securatot can now accept and process international orders via the website! This is very exciting to us as recently we have been receiving many enquiries from Europe regarding shipping costs. Previously, if an order was placed internationally, we had to manually take payment for the delivery cost. This made the buying process more complicated for the international consumer.

At the moment, Europe is our main market with some non EU countries also being accepted, i.e. Switzerland and Iceland. The shipping cost is calculated once the customer enters a non UK address at the checkout. Depending on the address given, the checkout will automatically calculate the shipping cost to the designated country. If your country is not on the list, please do still contact us for a quote as we may still be able to process your order.

We must thank all our international customers to date who have inspired us to set up the international side of the business. It is wonderful news for rear facing car seats as it means that word is spreading across Europe and that is very exciting!

Securatot are thrilled to have won 2^nd place in the Wiltshire New Business Competition.  We beat off 80 entrants to secure 2^nd place. It was a close call as it turns out we lost by only 5 points! There were 20 judges in total who had marked all the contestants from 1-6 so to lose by only 5 points was a real shame…

We attended a black tie dinner at Bowood Golf and Country Club on Fri 20^th Nov. It was a wonderful evening. All 16 finalists were interviewed by BBC Wiltshire on the night. Whilst being interviewed, your face was the projected onto plasma screens around the room! Securatot was last on the list making it quite a stressful night!!

We won £500 prize money that will go straight into our marketing campaign. We are delighted so thank you to Wiltshire Council who funded the prize money.

There were two runner ups and the final award went to Monkee Puzzle from Warminster. Monkee Puzzle is a children’s outdoor play equipment company. Congratulations to them!

I had the pleasure of pitching Securatot on BBC Wiltshire radio today. Fortunately, the pitch was recorded last week but only on an hours notice! What I wasn’t expecting however, was the interview. It was quite a nerve racking experience to be asked questions on the spot and to answer into a BBC microphone – not a usual part of my day! It did give me a great opportunity to explain about rear facing and hopefully answer some of the questions parents may have.

In total, Securatot got 5 minutes air time! The only disappointing part of the interview was the introduction. The DJ, Matthew Smith, stated that two mums were claiming that forward facing seats are dangerous. Securatot, Kirsty and I, do not believe that forward facing seats are dangerous. They are safe and we believe they are safe but we want to spread the word that rear facing seats are 5 times safer! It will always be difficult to deal with media who will want to dramatise what we say but we would like to make it very clear that forward facing seats are safe! If you would like to hear the interview for yourself please follow this link and have a listen (interview starts at 2hr 8mins). We would love to know what you think!

Securatot has won the New Business Competition 2009 for the Wooton Bassett area! The competition is run by the Wessex Chamber of Commerce. Kirsty and I underwent some Dragon’s Den style questioning but our business won through. The judges liked our passion for the rearfacing cause and our business plan too. What is so exciting about this prospect is that we had the opportunity to present the rear facing concept to a room of 50 . Even the Mayor of Malmesbury wanted some advice on rear facing car seats! The next judging round will include a 5min presentation on 12 Nov and then on the 20 Nov we will attend a black tie dinner at Bowood House where the overall winner of Wiltshire will be announced. There will be 180 people at the dinner and Kirsty and I will once again present  Securatot and rear facing car seats. The winner will receive publicity in the press so we are keeping everything crossed as the more PR we receive the more people will hear about rear facing. Onwards and upwards!

Kirsty and I visited Thatcham on Oct 15^th 2009. We were given a tour of the crash test centre which is amazing. Thatcham have never crash tested children’s car seats but there may be an opportunity for Securatot to present a proposal to conduct the first UK crash tests on rear facing car seats. It is an exciting prospect and one that will take much time and research on our part to pull together a proposal that will secure the support of Thatcham. Timescales will be between 12 – 18mths so it won’t happen for some time but we will keep you up to date on our journey. Wish us luck!

Securatot has received its first appearance in the press! We featured in the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard on Thurs 6th August 2009. This is a really nice story and one that we are proud to put the Securatot name to. Here is the link to the story:

Rear-facing car seats in the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Standard

We met with the reporter, Tina Robins, who allowed us to speak in detail about the company and our background. What inspired us to launch this business and why we are only selling rear-facing car seats were just a couple of the questions asked.

The interview lasted nearly an hour. This allowed us to explain, in detail, the safety aspects of rear facing and why we feel it is so important for parents to be informed. Having a face-to-face interview was wonderful. It enables your passion for the cause to come through and the interviewer to fully understand your business and your objectives.

Kirsty and I are passionate about rear facing and we want the opportunity to explain to people why it is so important. At the end of the day it is about giving people choice and allowing them to make an informed decision. Much of the media that has circled rear facing has focused on the negative elements of it, i.e. ‘the seats are very big and will not fit in many cars.’ There are different seats available on the market each with their own advantages and disadvantages. It is important to tailor the seat to the car to ensure you get the best fit. To give an example, we fitted a Brio Zento into a Grand Cherokee Jeep, the legroom for the front passenger was squeezed. We fitted the same seat into a Ford Fiesta and there was more legroom for the front passenger! You never know how a seat will fit until you install it.

By Friday 7th August we received news that our story would also feature in The Daily Western Press. Great news to receive two reports on our company in only one week! Kirsty was interviewed over the phone and the report featured in the Saturday edition. We were delighted to be getting a wider coverage with our story. The report read like it had a harder edge. It may make people stop and think but we don’t want to scare people into rear facing but just give them the facts. However, a couple of the facts were incorrect ‘…in Sweden, forward facing car seats for under-fours are actually banned’. To correct, they are not banned but it is the Governments recommendation that children rear face until the age of 4yrs. ‘The British Medical Journal endorsed it as the safest way for under-fives to travel’. To correct, The British Medical Journal published the report that was written by Elizabeth A Watson and Michael J Monteiro, which states that rear-facing seats are safer than forward facing seats for children under 4years old.

These facts are indeed correct on our website but through the phone conversation were misinterpreted. We have learnt the downside of not having a face-to-face interview! Going forward Kirsty and I have written our own quotes to supply to any future reports of our story. It is very important that this story is covered accurately.

The Gazette and Herald, Swindon Advertiser and our first national, Auto Express, have all agreed to feature Securatot in their publications. We are thrilled that reporters are willing to run with this story and help in our campaign to educate parents on the safety of rear facing.

See the Securatot web site for more about rear-facing car seats.