Cardiff nursery child left locked in building after it closed

Sweet Pea says it has changed its procedures since the child was left locked in the nursery

A young child was left locked in a nursery after it had closed for the day.

The child was left alone for up to 15 minutes at Sweet Pea Daycare in Birchgrove, Cardiff, on 13 July.

The nursery said its investigation found that software indicated the child had been picked up when they had not.

Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) said it had taken the appropriate steps in line with its policies.

Sweet Pea has two nurseries locations - near Birchgrove Primary School and the other near Ton-Yr-Ywen Primary School - and was established in April 2013.

Its registered nursery in Birchgrove cares for 44 children aged six weeks to five years old and is split into four separate areas.

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The nursery refused to speak to BBC Wales, but in a statement to WalesOnline it said the safety of children in its care was its "utmost priority" and new measures had been adopted to ensure the incident did not happen again.

It added: "Following the incident, the management team conducted a thorough internal investigation to address the issue it took immediate action by involving the appropriate regulatory body, CIW, to ensure that our investigation was conducted with the utmost professionalism and that steps were taken to prevent any future occurrences."

Sweet Pea said it has now implemented an additional step in their sign in and sign out procedures whereby parents are required to personally sign out their child at the end of the day.

CIW said: "We continue to work closely with the provider and local authority to ensure the safety of all children who use the service."