Troon mum calls for better nursery checks after her toddler walks home unnoticed

3-year-old Liam Radcliffe made the half-mile journey without staff realising

Liam Radcliffe and Sarra Reid
Author: John CallanPublished 5th Feb 2018
Last updated 5th Feb 2018

An Ayrshire mum wants nurseries across Scotland to have more thorough checks, after her three-year-old walked home from class without anyone realising.

Liam Radcliffe turned up at mum Sarra Reid's doorstep in tears after wandering the half-mile journey along a busy road in Barassie on his own.

"Anything could've happened to him on his walk home."

When she took him back to the nursery, staff weren't aware he was gone.

Sara said: " All I know is that he walked through three different sets of doors at nursery. One did have a security button but he managed to hit it.

"Anything could've happened to him on his walk home.

"Any confidence and trust that I had built with that nursery in the short time he'd been there has now disappeared.

"I think they need to assess every nursery out there because if this has happened at his nursery, what's to say it couldn't happen elsewhere?

"I just want parents to take a look at this, assess the nursery they're at and hope this doesn't happen again."

In response, Douglas Hutchison, South Ayrshire Council's Director of Educational Service said: "Following a recent incident where a child left the Barassie early years centre for a short time, additional security measures have been put in place.

"We take our children’s safety very seriously and the new way of working will help ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again."