A RETIRED social worker has criticised “totally irresponsible parenting” after finding a small child left alone in a car on the warmest day of the year for over 10 minutes.

John Eadington was visiting Morrison’s in Nailsworth yesterday when he spotted the child sitting alone in the back of a large 4x4 in 32°C heat.

He said the car had hastily been parked in front of the taxi bay with the driver’s window down while the mother ran in to get a sandwich.

“The car was parked in front of the taxi only bay with its hazard lights on,” said John, from Nailsworth.

“The driver's window was open and a small child in a car seat was sitting alone in the rear of the car.

“The temperature outside was well in the 30s. I spoke with the child who said mummy was in the shop.

“I waited what must have been a good ten minutes, alerting staff in the shop to the issue.

“At last the mother came out of the shop and returned to the car. I approached her and tactfully suggested that she should not be parking there when there were plenty of vacant bays.

“The lady was very nice did apologise for any inconvenience she may have caused.

“But when I drew attention to the issue of leaving a small child unsupervised in a hot car whilst she went into the supermarket she became offensive and remarked that it was her child and she was the parent.

“I remarked that in my opinion, as a grandparent myself, and a retired social work manager her actions were those of an irresponsible person who considered getting a sandwich more important that the safety of her own child.

“Anything could have happened to that child whist she was absent. She left the scene in a rather less than friendly and somewhat hasty manner.”

Mr Eadington said he wanted to raise awareness about safety of people and dogs left in hot cars during the heatwave.

“I just thought this should be shared and I would urge others who see similar examples of poor parenting to report them too,” he said.

“Leaving children unsupervised for that long is never a good idea, especially in this weather. I just don’t want to see anyone injured or worse because of this issue.”