Off duty police officer, town centre staff and sainsburys workers

Lyndsay_21

here a brief outline of what happened to me today:

get up late get kids dressed decide to go into town its about 11.30 get my glasses then take the kids for something to eat, take a trip to the local sainsburys central then DD (3yo) decides to make a run for it i am trying to chase her round the aisles whilst pushing a buggy and whilst trying to get through the crowds of shoppers... Suddenly she dissapears and i cant see he i take another look round the store and start to panic, go to the cust service area and explain she's gone missing and the lady there has another look round, i leave the buggy (with DS) in it and the cust service area and take a look outside the store but she's not there, go back inside and they cant find her so they call the shopping centre security, they arrive and send out a message on their radio things whith her description, The rest of the security guards in the centre are searching the shops me and the lady security guard wait outside the store and wait and wait i'm hysterical. After about 10 mins she says 'its been 10mins shall we call the police' i say YES, she radios the local police station. i see my friends mum and explain then get her to ring my parents as i'm crying too much to do it. another 5mins pass whilst we wait for police then they security lady gets a message that DD is at police station. We walk up there and she is sitting in a room (with my dad who i'd told to meet at station) i walk in and sit on a little table opposite her. start saying she shouldn't run off then i burst into tears then she bursts into tears.
It turns out she was on the bottom floor of the mulit storey car park when and off duty police officer and his wife found her (thank god) and took her to the station

I am so grateful to the staff at sainsburys who acted quickly and sent several staff out looking for her even on a busy saturday and the security staff who quickly organised a search of the town cantre and for the off duty officer who saw her and stopped to find out why she was alone.

allycat999

What an absolute nightmare. So glad it you found her safe and sound. My youngest are 2 and 3 and I would be a gibbering wreck if I lost one of them in a shop, but when they are that young it is so easy. Completely feel for you.

Queenie

:T :T :T


Thank GOODNESS she was found, safe, well and unharmed. What a traumatic time for you ((((((HUGS))))))

Jay-Jay_4

BLIMEY!!! I bet you were an absolute nervous wreck.


Glad everything turned out ok for you all x x x

Nelski

What a horrible day Lindsay and what a fantastic result - thank you for telling us it is nice to hear some good news about people :T

Quasar

So glad all worked out well in the end, Lindsay_21!!

Funny enough this happened to me in Sainsbury Chiswick, London, about a year ago. Well actually, not to me personally since I have no children, but as I was queuing up at the checkout, the lady in front was adjusting her toddler on the trolley seat, then suddenly looked around and called out to her small daughter who was nowhere to be seen. The poor woman was frantic and wanted to run and look for the child, but did not want to leave the baby behind.

Knowing that even a few seconds are vital in these circumstances, I promised her that I would stay with the baby for as long as necessary and I alerted the checkout operator in front of her. Reassured, the woman ran off in search, and I told all the staff I could see around me. Shortly afterwards a very, very relieved mum came back with her daughter. She did not know whether to laugh or cry.

It is soooo easy for a child to stray in places like these, and one often fears the worst with all the strangers walking about.

It can't be easy to be a young mum these days, and all too often men and childless women like me don't fully appreciate what full, full time work and worry it is.

Becles

Glad to hear everything worked out ok, and can understand how worried you must have been.

A similar thing happened to me in a supermarket when mine were little. I had the baby in the trolley and was packing the shopping. My then toddler son wandered off to look at some plants at the end of the checkouts, then realised he couldn't remember which checkout I was at.

I was frantic when I turned round and realised he wasn't there. The checkout lady contacted the customer service desk, who were just about to put a message out for me.

Apparantly my son had marched up to the customer service desk, annouced he was lost and told them his name and my name!

Moral of the story is to teach them their name, your name and what to do if they get lost in a shop.

Lyndsay_21

thanks for all the replies i feel much better now i'm just thankful of how quickly everyone jumped into gear and so thankful that it was a police officer who found her not some wierdo. i am going to get some thankyou cards one for sainsburys staff one for the security team and take one into the police station and see if they can pass it on to the police officer who found her.

Bennifred

Very pleased it all turned out OK, Lindsey - it's such a scary thing to happen, isn't it?
I (temporarily!) lost my then 3yo son in a shopping mall once. Absolutely beside myself. He wasn't allowed out of the house unless he was wearing one of those wrist straps with me on the other end after that. He hated it but when you've got younger ones too it saves having eyes in the back of your head.......

bec28

Hi Lindsay, am so pleased that your story had a happy ending and I think the thankyou cards are a lovely idea and am sure they will be really apprechiated by the people you send them to.
Hope you are having a stiff drink this evening to overcome your nerves!
Bec

lisa_cee

oh god how scarey ! really glad she was safe and sound !