Nursery is under investigation after two ‘unsupervised’ toddlers escaped – and three-year-old boy was found wandering alone on dual carriageway
- Two ‘unsupervised’ toddlers escaped a nursery, with one found near a busy road
- Incident took place at a nursery in Derriford, Plymouth, before 11am this morning
- Management from Busy Bees Nursery said they are carrying out an investigation
A nursery is under investigation after two ‘unsupervised’ toddlers escaped, with one of the children, a three-year-old boy, found wandering along a dual carriageway alone.
The incident took place at a nursery in Derriford, Plymouth, this morning, with police alerted to a young boy alone on the busy William Prance Road by worried members of the public just after 11am.
Management from Busy Bees Nursery, which runs almost 400 nurseries for children up to five years old across the UK and Ireland, have confirmed an internal investigation is taking place.
While it is understood one of the youngsters was located very quickly, the other was spotted walking next to traffic on the busy main road.
The incident took place at a nursery in Derriford, Plymouth, this morning, with police alerted to a young boy walking alone along the busy William Prance Road (pictured) just after 11am
Devon and Cornwall Police has confirmed officers were called to William Prance Road shortly after 11am on Monday, February 8 after receiving reports of a young child ‘walking on his own’.
In a letter to parents operations director (South) for Busy Bees Nurseries, Anita Wilden says the company is ‘devastated’ that the incident took place and confirms a ‘thorough investigation’ is now underway.
Ms Wilden says the safety and well-being of all Busy Bees’ children is the company’s ‘highest priority’ and wants to assure parents that management will be taking all appropriate actions to ensure an incident like this never happens again.
One Plymouth woman asked a community group on social media if they knew anything about a young boy walking along William Prance Road with two strangers, who appeared to be trying to find the child’s parents.
One commenter said she was the woman who helped this boy, and stopped him walking into traffic, while another kind-hearted samaritan stopped vehicles on the road.
Management from Busy Bees Nursery, which runs almost 400 nurseries for children up to five years old across the UK and Ireland, have confirmed an internal investigation is taking place
It’s understood the pair called the police and officers arrived very quickly to take care of the youngster.
A spokesperson Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘Police were called to William Prance Road in Plymouth just after 11am on Monday, February 8 after receiving reports of a young child seen walking on his own.
‘Officers attended and located a three-year-old boy in the area. He was safely returned to the care of an adult a few minutes later.’
A spokesperson for BusyBees said: ‘On Monday morning two children were found to have left our Plymouth centre unsupervised.
‘Whilst we are relieved that both children returned safely to the centre, this situation clearly should not have happened and we are taking the fact it did extremely seriously.
Devon and Cornwall Police has confirmed officers were called to William Prance Road shortly after 11am on Monday, February 8 after receiving reports of a young child ‘walking on his own’
‘We are devastated that this was able to happen and a thorough investigation is now underway.
‘We contacted the parents of the children involved, as well as all other parents at the nursery to explain the situation and we are working with the authorities and regulators to establish the facts and we will take appropriate action where required.’
Ms Wilden added: ‘The safety and well-being of all children in our care is our highest priority and we have robust policies in place to ensure situations such as this do not occur.
‘Whilst we are relieved that both the children involved are safely back at nursery, we are determined to ensure this cannot happen again.
‘We have started our investigation and we will find out how this situation happened. Please be assured that if there are any steps we can make to further improve our procedures we will make those changes.’
The letter from Anita Wilden to parents of children at BusyBees says: ‘Dear Parents, I felt it important to write to you personally about a situation that occurred involving two children from our nursery today [Monday].
‘Earlier this morning two children were found to have left the nursery unsupervised.
‘Both children were returned safely to nursery and the families have been informed.
‘We are devastated that this was able to happen and a thorough investigation is now underway.
‘Please be assured that we are working with the authorities and regulators to establish the facts and we will take appropriate action where required.
‘We have senior management en route to nursery now including myself, and I will be available to meet with you personally should you have any questions later today and tomorrow.
‘The safety and well-being of all children in our care is our highest priority, and we have robust policies in place to ensure situations such as this don’t happen.
‘Please be assured that we will find out how the situation arose and take any appropriate actions to ensure that it cannot happen again.’
Parents of children at BusyBees in Plymouth say they are ‘very concerned’ that the incident was able to happen.
One parent, who has asked to be anonymous, said: ‘[Following this incident], a lot of parents are very concerned for the welfare of their children at the nursery.
‘One child was missing for over 15 minutes and was brought back by police after a passer by drove past the child and called the police.
‘We have lost all confidence, not with just BusyBees but all day-care settings.’
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