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Mum left horrified when her three-year-old boy walked home from childcare with nobody even realising he was missing.

Sarra Reid has spoken of the moment she opened the front door of her home in Scotland, to see her son Liam standing there crying.

The toddler had managed to navigate the nearly kilometre walk along a busy road all by himself, making his way home, shares Yahoo.

She immediately returned Liam to the daycare centre, fearing staff would be in a panic searching for him.

But when she arrived Ms Reid said nobody had even realised he had been missing from the daycare centre for about 20 minutes.

“I had expected to see a search going on for him. But when I walked in with him, the staff just looked perplexed.

“It was then that it dawned on me that they did not know he was missing. I was absolutely horrified.”

Staff said Liam would have walked through two sets of doors as well as an unlocked gate, to leave the premises.

The childcare centre has since had alarms installed on the main door and padlocks on the gate to prevent future wandering children, and employ an additional staff member to keep watch.

OMG that is terrifying! I would be so angry.

How would you react?

Share your comments below.

  • Goodness I can’t imagine the stress this must have caused you.

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  • How does this even happen?! Glad he made it home safe!

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  • Omg I would be so furious!
    But I must admit that I am impressed by the toddlers navigation skills to get home!

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  • This is horrifying! I’d be so angry if this happened to my child!

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  • Oh this is soooo scary! I would be beside myself.

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  • Wow I would be absolutely furious with the centre and wouldn’t send him back there. So glad that he is safe.

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  • Omg that’s not good. Am glad the child is safe.

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  • Glad he is safe

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  • They’d all be getting a loud mouthful from me to the ones that are meant to be watching him and I’d never go back

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  • OMG how could this ever have happened. The welfare and safety of kids should be top priority. I am appalled ????

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  • The mother would have been beside herself. Thinking of all the things that could have happened as he walked home. And to go to the centre to find they didn’t even realise that’s shocking!

    Well done to the little boy for remembering his way home.

    Even when I am out with friends, I am constantly head counting all our kids. Keeping an eye on all of them to make sure we can see where they all are (and most are alot older than 3).

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  • How does this even happen?! One of the reasons I chose the centre my son is in one day a week is because of the lack of vulnerability points in to/out of the facility. I wonder how long it would have taken for someone to realize there was a child missing from their care. This is terrifying!

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  • I would be worrying every time he went to childcare. The worse part of it was the staff not knowing he was missing. At least his mother was home when he got there.
    Definitely had an angel looking after him that day.

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  • How on earth could something like this happen?!
    Don’t know how a toddler would be able to open a door and get out – all doors should be kept closed in case of things like this! I would not be impressed and would take my child to another daycare.

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  • Omg so they are sure he just walked out the front door? Really not OK! My brother escaped daycare as a kid. He found a hole in the fence hidden behind a bush!

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  • That is indeed scary. Particularly a toddler unattended on a busy road would be very worrisome. Hope the new measures at the daycare make it safer.

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  • He’s a clever young man. I’d have to be sure there were better safeguards now in place or I would be going to a different childcare centre where adequate arrangements are in place.

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  • I thought the procedure was that you signed your child in at reception and the room they were in and did the reverse when you take them out. You have to have a swipe card to get in, or ring the bell to be let in. I’m not sure if you can enter with a code that activates the lock or not. Entering the one I know about there is a gate before the glass doors at the entry of the childcare building. If somebody else is collecting your child you have to have filled out a form and given written consent. Maybe the little boy snuck out behind another adult and child. If that was the case you would have thought the adult would notice and notify the staff immediately

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  • OMG. I’d be too terrified to let my child go back there. I’d never be able to relax. How could they not know he was missing. Thank god nothing bad happened to him.

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  • OMG. This is shocking… ridiculous…. I’m speechless. How dare they? They should have their licence stripped. Thank God the child was safe and made it home. OMG. Not enough words to describe how I feel.

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