A three-year-old boy was found wandering down a busy dual carriageway after escaping from a Plymouth nursery with another toddler.
Management from Busy Bees Nursery, which runs almost 400 nurseries for children up to five years old across the UK and Ireland, have confirmed they are investigating an incident which saw two “unsupervised” children leave the nursery in William Prance Road, Derriford, on Monday, February 8.
While it is understood one of the youngsters was found very quickly, the other was spotted by worried strangers walking next to traffic on the main road.
Devon and Cornwall Police has confirmed officers were called to William Prance Road shortly after 11am on Monday 8 February after receiving reports of a young child “walking on his own”.
In a letter to parents, operations director for Busy Bees Nurseries in the South, Anita Wilden says the company is “devastated” the incident took place and confirms a “thorough investigation” is now underway.
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.
Anita Wilden, Busy Bees’ Nursery
One Plymouth woman asked a community group 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.
It’s understood the pair called the police and officers arrived to take care of the toddler.
A spokesperson Devon and Cornwall Police said: “Police were called to William Prance Road in Plymouth just after 11am on Monday 8 February 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.”
