A TERRIFIED dad said his toddler is lucky to be alive after she walked out of nursery unchecked on just her third day in.
Mia Ellen, three, was found waiting alone at a nearby bus stop with her coat and backpack on by Steven, 38 and mum Carreen, 39.
Panicked Carreen screamed “there’s Mia” and immediately ran to grab her as a double-decker pulled up beside her on the 20mph dual carriageway.
Mia’s parents had been walking to the Millenium Primary School in Greenwich, South London, just before the midday collection time last Friday when they saw her.
Steven told The Sun: “They have put my daughter’s life in danger.
“My daughter could have been kidnapped. She could have run out on the road. We could have lost our daughter that day.
“We went to the school five minutes early and saw her standing on the road. How scary is that?
“She’s talking but not in full sentences so all she said was ‘I was walking’.
“She don’t know right from wrong, she’s a baby. Adults should be looking after her.”
Mia started at the nursery only last Wednesday, doing three hour days to start with.
The day was extended by half an hour to midday on Friday when she managed to wander out.
She is believed to have left through a gate where there was no CCTV.
Her parents have now taken her out of the nursery and are nervous about sending her anywhere else.
Steven added: “My wife has been having panic attacks. My little girl hasn’t been sleeping properly.
“She’s been waking up, crying, having dreams.
“It’s impacted the family. If she went missing, I would have had to make a big appeal. She could have died that day, or been kidnapped.”
Executive headteacher Rachel Mollett said: “As a school, the health, safety and wellbeing of our pupils is our top priority. We are aware of an incident that occurred last Friday during the collection time for the morning nursery session, in which a child left the premises without being accompanied by staff or family.
“This incident is wholly unacceptable and we are relieved she was immediately found safe and well by her family just outside the school as they arrived for collection time.
“We have been and continue to fully engage with them to ensure any appropriate support is in place.
“We are currently undertaking a full investigation to determine how this occurred, and as part of this are reviewing our robust safeguarding policies and procedures.
“We are also immediately implementing a number of measures to ensure this does not happen again, including changing the point of exit for nursery collection, installing additional CCTV cameras and deploying additional staff to supervise collection time.
“We would like to reassure our school community that this is an isolated incident and if they have any questions to please contact the school directly.”
