Car towed away with sleeping toddler inside

Car towed from Melbourne clearway with sleeping three-year-old child inside.

A driver mistakenly towed away a vehicle parked in a Brunswick clearway, in Melbourne with a three-year-old child asleep inside.

Nationwide Towing and Transport operations manager Mark Beverage told 3AW that the driver had been unable to see the child because of the four-wheel-drive’s dark tinted windows.

He said the car had been in the clearway for about 15 minutes before it was loaded on the back of a flat-top truck.

Mr Beverage told Neil Mitchell part of the company’s procedure was to take photos of the vehicle and check if there were any people or animals inside.

“In this case the car had very dark tinted windows and you could see through the front windows and just see blankets in the back. The child was unfortunately asleep under the blankets,” he said.

A police operation had begun after the mother returned to find her car, and child missing, with fears the car had been stolen she contacted police.

Despite the woman initially telling officers she had only briefly left her car to use the bathroom in the nearby Fahita’s Restaurant, security footage from the street shows the vehicle was parked in a clearway zone for more than 30 minutes before it was towed.

Nine News reports that footage has revealed the mother hanging a sheet and a jumper to cover the back windows of the Toyota Prado.

Security vision provided to Nine News has shown that nine minutes after first leaving her car to enter the nearby Fahita’s Restaurant the mother and a teenager returned to check on the sleeping child in the backseat, but then left again confident the child was still asleep.

@7NewsMelbourne @MFelgate7 why was child left unattended?

— #AriseChickun (@The_FishmanAU) May 11, 2016

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17 Comments

- - mom19782016 said
  - 23 Jun 2016
    6:43 am
I hope the child is/was ok. I also hope they fine this mother as she clearly intended to leave her child for some time unattended.

- - mom134803 said
  - 12 Jun 2016
    3:44 am
Hard to believe that mum left her child alone in the car and went shopping or whatever. In away it’s maybe good that her car was towed away with her sleeping toddler inside so her neglect came to light….hopefully this incident teaches this mum somethings.

- - mom90758 said
  - 13 May 2016
    7:11 pm
So many times we hear of people leaving their kids in the car. Why? A child can sleep in a stroller!!

- - rachelvk said
  - 13 May 2016
    1:08 pm
Why are people still being so irresponsible and stupid? when will the message get through to them.

- - Sam said
  - 13 May 2016
    11:24 am
Oh my – i know the child was sleeping but wake the kids and take them with you. And parking in a clearway??? Gosh!! Could have neen much worse

- - sharna_booth_weinrowski said
  - 13 May 2016
    11:01 am
just wrong. Really wrong. People will never learn will they!

- - mom113991 said
  - 13 May 2016
    6:35 am
People will never learn..poor children

- - june11 said
  - 12 May 2016
    9:41 pm
Parked in a clearway, unless it has broken down is illegal. It could have been hit by another vehicle and others still not known the baby was in the car. A sheet would block the sun off the baby but the car will still get hot. Obviously the law states that if a car is left there with will be removed. That is negligence and the Mum should be charged. Where did they go and what did they do after they checked the baby. I wonder if the teenager is aware of the law. Probably not.

- - mom160421 said
  - 12 May 2016
    8:25 pm
I hope she is charged, fined, and publicly humiliated. How many times do people have to be told not to leave children in cars.

- - damish70 said
  - 12 May 2016
    8:22 pm
Don’t you just love CCTV? It always shows you the truth.

- - Nas01 said
  - 12 May 2016
    7:47 pm
This is shocking. It could have been tragic. What was the mother thinking!!!

- - jacqbeckett said
  - 12 May 2016
    7:05 pm
she knew it was wrong to do and lied. full stop.
I have to say what an idiot as we have been told many many times before, do no leave children in cars not even pets too. parked in a no zone area, even worst!

- - mom156049 said
  - 12 May 2016
    4:53 pm
When will people learn – don’t leave children in the car!! It’s illegal for a start!!

- - BellaB said
  - 12 May 2016
    4:14 pm
Hm. Lying to the police suggests she knows it was stupid and wrong.

- - mom56312 said
  - 12 May 2016
    4:05 pm
Well this just shows she knew what she was doing was wrong… By trying to hide the fact that a kid was inside by putting blankets on the windows.. Hopefully the child was found safe and well and still asleep.. This is a important lesson for this parent and hopefully it will be something she will never do again..