Off duty police officer, town centre staff and sainsburys workers

Bendybops19

Oh my word!! How on earth did she get down into the car park?

Its def good to show little ones where to go if they get lost. But you cant teach a child who to trust can you, so thank god it was a policeman.

I really hope you dont blame yourself hun, as you can see, it happens to everyone!

Really nice idea to get thank you cards As my sisters hubbie says (he's a policeman) 'why do people always want to complain about me, but no one wants to thank me?'.

Take care x have a nice big drinky!!

starlite_2

That must have been scary - I think it happens lot I have heard at least three announcements in our sainsburys saying they are looking for a child of x age wearing x.
Glad everything worked out okay!

Reminds me of the time I left my little sister (she was 4 months old) in the newsagents..I hassled my mum to let me take her, then arrived home to my mum screaming, 'where the hell is she'! the newsagents wife was walking her up the road to our house as my mum ran there in hysterics. Good job we knew them fairly well!
I felt very very bad..and needless to say wasn't trusted with her too much after that.

trickytrolleys

How awful - thank god she was OK!

2005CLAIRE

I have goose pimples reading these pages.
A few years ago my friend took me and my 2 children to the beach. It was packed. She said I will take child 2 (aged 3) to by the water-no problem (she is an ambulance woman so I thought he's in safe hands lol). Ages later she comes back saying "I lost him" - 20 mins ago!

The worst of it was that the last thing she said to him was "Shall we go in the water". I was just petrified - I shouted to everyone on the beach to start looking for him, I run to the shop, nothing.
The life guard was excellent, calmed me down, got details and FOUND HIM.
He was still on the beach but a good way away.
I insisted that the Life Guard had £5 for a beer (all I had left on me-I would have given him £100 if I had it).
My friendship with the ambulance woman went downhill from that day and we no longer keep in contact.
I can imagine the Security staff have a thankless job most of the time so a letter would be a real boost I bet.

aliasojo

This brought back memories for me too. I was in Mackays clothes shop buying a skirt for my daughter who was 3 at the time. She was standing beside me in the queue and when it was my turn to be served I lifted up the item and turned to the assistant at which point my daughter must have wandered off unknown to me.

After I was served (which only took a minute), I turned and daughter had gone. I thought she was still in the shop so started looking for her but there was no sign. All the staff checked under rails and in changing rooms etc but nothing. Then a customer said she saw a little girl fitting my daughter's description leaving the store with a man who was pushing a buggy.

I ran out but there was no sign. Practically hysterical by this point, the Mackay's staff phoned the Police for me and they arrived in minutes. I ran up and down the High Street like a headless chicken.

Turned out that daughter had got out the store because the man had to open the door wide to get his buggy out. Don't know why he didn't wonder why a little one was leaving herself but that's folk for you.

She had spotted a colourful bouncy castle far down the High Street and that's where she was, bouncing on the thing. Bouncy castle owner had the cheek to charge me £1.50 for her shot!

Lesson learned......superglue your child to your side and don't expect other people to show much sense when it comes to a wandering little one!

I'm glad it turned out well for you Lyndsay..I really empathised with you when I read your post.

Firefly

Similar story here but in Ikea. Son who was about 5 slipped through into the next section to play on the childrens beds, slide, etc. I turned round, couldn't see him and became frantic quite quickly! The store responded swiftly and security guards found him very quickly.

I was impressed with the way staff kept stopping him on our way through the store after the event to check he was with him mum and not a kidnapper!! They must have given his description to staff who were still alert even 15 mins later.

I'm glad you had a happy ending.

eml_3

So glad it worked out OK for you! I remember DD (aged 4) getting lost in Tesco last year. Her dad was pushing the trolley with DS in it and DD was with me. I gave her something to put in the trolley and she ran off to Daddy. I then moved on to the next aisle. A minute or so later, I was called to customer services. Her dad had moved on, thinking she was with me and I thought she was with him. Luckily, we had taught her to find a policeman, a shop worker or failing that, a mummy with a pram if she was lost and she knew her full name. She had immediately told a shop assistant she was lost and what her mummy was called.

I'm glad I didn't know she was lost until she'd been found - I can imagine how frantic you must have been - it makes your blood run cold. Needless to say, I have blamed DH to this day!!

Masked_Marauder

I one found a little girl wandering lost, crying for her mum, in a local shopping centre. So I took her hand and told her we would go find someone to help her find her mum. There was a female security guard about 10 yards away and I had no sooner got to her and started to explain the situation when I was physically attacked by the little girl's dad. He waded in with his fist whilst screaming that I was a peado.

Thing is, although I did feel aggrieved by her dad's actions, I felt sorry for the little girl for having him as a dad.

starlite_2

I know what you mean..it's bad to be treated with suspicion when you were just trying to help...
my oh was on our high street and noticed a little girl, maybe three, crying with noone around...and as we are in london most people were just obliviously going about their business.
He went over and she said she had lost her mum, so he thought it best to take her into the shopping centre so the security staff could find her mum. Before they had even moved from the spot a woman came over yelling at him and dashed off with the girl yelling 'look out for the peado'
he was very embarrased and upset, as he was the only person nearby that was concerned, but eneded up getting nasty looks from all around,
he then saw the woman slapping the little girl hard in the face and yelling at her to stay with her when she is shopping..
not nice!

For me too..I once picked up a baby shoe and put it back on when I was on a bus and the pram was next to me, and the woman gave me a nasty look, then pulled the baby out of the pram and went to sit further back on the bus....

starlite_2

and to add..it's reasonable to be cautious..but people are very mistrustful these days....you could at least take the time to thank the person...i mean it's so much more likely that it's someone wanting to help, rather than the worst case scenario...
i blame ' the mirror' with their sensationalism of paedohilia....