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Original poster

Child went missing in 99p store

248 replies

PassionateaboutParenting · 04/01/2013 18:01

My 2 year old son went missing in a 99p store on the High street in Leytonstone. I turned to pay for the items I bought and my son disappeared within those seconds.I called for my son and looked through the isles for him, my 6&4 year olds were with me. I asked the security guard to shut the door, he refused. Instead he told me that I should hold my child's hand.

The last thind I needed in my sheer panic at the thought of having lost my son was to be judged so harshly. None of the staff tried to assist me and just proceeded as usual, and it took another customer to search for my child and bring him to me.
People were awful either pretending not to notice or otherwise passing nasty remarks. I want to start a campaign to create a child safe scheme in my area. Has anyone else done this?
I have complained to the 99p store bit not sure if they will respond. Has anyone heard of the Code Adam in the USA?

OP posts:
cocoachannel · 04/01/2013 19:42

You poor thing - very, very scary.

Yes I hope 99p change their policy. We have one here and I have a very wriggly toddler.

Hope you are okay OP and recovered from the panic. Wine this evening!

TheNebulousBoojum · 04/01/2013 19:42

'Who hasn't been in this situation?'

FredFredGeorge. Yet.

racingheart · 04/01/2013 19:44

FredFred it is society's responsibility to care for the young - if that society is worth living in. And it was the child, not the mother, who is entitled to adult support when he goes missing. Of course a child is entitled to appropriate care and consideration. The mother requested help. She deserved help.

OP - I'd make a huge fuss about this. It should be store policy for the doors to be closed.

I lost my nephew once, before I was a mum. His mum was buying a train ticket at a machine in waterloo. I was holding his hand and a heavy suitcase. I let go to put the suitcase down and then turned around to transfer him to my other hand. He was nowhere to be seen. He'd slipped onto an escalator, and was shorter than the handrail, so invisible. Luckily the escalator was going the wrong way, so he was having fun climbing up descending stairs, and I grabbed him. But my heart skipped a beat.

You were not at fault. 99p store policy was.

cocoachannel · 04/01/2013 19:44

Piccadilly - that is awful. People never cease to amaze. I hope your DD was Okayama.

Varya · 04/01/2013 19:45

Use reins with my twins. Awful when your child goes missing XXX

cocoachannel · 04/01/2013 19:46

Ops. Predictive text. Clearly I hope she was 'okay', not a Japanese city.

bamboobutton · 04/01/2013 19:46

Bollocks try again

Reallyusefulengine · 04/01/2013 19:47

You poor woman. I lost one of my dc in M&S Richmond and they were amazing. They put security on the door to make sure no small person left the store with or without a person - they were really sharp with passing in her description. I will love them forever. DD found licking greeting cards, thank God.

I would find out the head office address and write to the MD and suggest they brief their security staff in how to deal with list children. What the hell else are they doing?

Sirzy · 04/01/2013 19:47

Its not just societies responsibility to care for the young, its societies responsibility to care for each other. It never fails to amaze me how many people will walk past and leave others struggling whether it is something big like a missing child or someone having a heart attack or something little like holding a door or helping carry a pram downstairs.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 04/01/2013 19:47

They found the person with the baby Piccadily- from what I know, the mum had stopped at the perfume counter (it was busy) As I said I saw her standing there but didn't pay attention IYSWIM.
Someone got between her and the pram and sidled off with it.
Then they walked off calmly (you can imagine there's lots of prams in Boots).

They were headed for the exit.

Poor mum probably had a bit of Baby Brain, but her pram was right beside her when I saw her. And people do come up and move prams and trolleys to get to what they want.

flow4 · 04/01/2013 19:48

An acquaintance told me about something that apparently happened when she was in Meadowhall, one of the UK's biggest shopping centres... I have never been quite sure whether it is in fact an urban myth, because it is so blood-chillingly scary...

She was shopping... An alarm sounded and all the (many) external doors/exits to the shopping centre were shut, and there was a 'missing child' announcement over the PA... The centre's security staff carried out a systematic search... After 5-10 mins, the missing child was found - a little girl of about 2 - in the men's toilets with a man - in new clothes and with all her hair shaved off. Shock

Even if this is just a story, this is why everyone needs to help look for any missing small child.

fedupofnamechanging · 04/01/2013 19:50

I have heard of similar flow. I really hope it's an urban myth, but it is entirely possible for such a thing to happen.

LouisWalshsChristmasCloset · 04/01/2013 19:51

flow Shock

CommanderShepard · 04/01/2013 19:51

So glad you're all ok.

My mum left me in Boots by accident when I was 10 days old. Fortunately I was right where she left me but she says it was the worst feeling of her life. I can well imagine.

PiccadillyCervix I worked at a, erm, very big pet store as a teenager and someone had a seizure in an aisle near the tills. I didn't stop to think - I dropped everything and ran for the phone to dial 999 while a colleague went to his aid. When I got back to the till I got thoroughly castigated by a customer for holding them up. Nice Hmm

SquinkiesRule · 04/01/2013 19:52

Wow I'm glad you found your little one OP.
I've always been paranoid about this happening to me when mine were little.
I was in WalMart when a code Adam was announced, Al the doors went on lockdown, all staff dropped what they were doing (I was in the baby dept) and systematically swept every isle looking for the child. Amazing it was. The child turned up a few minutes later somewhere else in the store and all door unlocked and went back to normal.
I'm pretty disgusted that the security guard wouldn't man the door to search for the child trying to get out or make sure he wasn't leaving with someone else once you had told him he was missing, and the staff could easily have put out an announcement so other shoppers could let you know where he was.

Booyhoo · 04/01/2013 19:59

flow that is indeed an urban myth. the age of child and the shopping centre change according to where you live but i have heard that it has happened in 3 different shopping centres near me. the police actually issued a statement following one of the stories doing the rounds on FB and people getting predictably hysterical over it.

pigletmania · 04/01/2013 20:00

Flow that is so scary that is why it is EVERYONES responsibility to look out for yiung children on their own, withut an adult.Thinking of poor APril Jones. My dd 5 s Autstic and used to scream I want my mummy I want my mummy if she was having a mtdwn or a ad day so Blush as people used to look at us

pigletmania · 04/01/2013 20:02

Commandersheooard that might have been fred

flow4 · 04/01/2013 20:06

I thought it probably was, Booy... But it still resonates and means I would never resent being 'delayed' by a search for a lost child... For me, the story is like one of those bad dreams you have about someone you love... You wake up and know it was just a dream, but you still have to 'phone the person just in case! Blush

Bobyan · 04/01/2013 20:08

I think you should give your local paper a call OP and see if they are interested, even if its just to embarrass the store.

BiteTheTopsOffIcedGems · 04/01/2013 20:10

FredFredGeorge I would say I hope you know what it feels like to have your child hold your hand one minute then not be there the next, even if you find them safely 2 minutes later, but I wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy.

When my daughter did a runner in Primark the security guard was brilliant, he told me a good tip. If you have a child that likes to run away take a photo of them if you are going somewhere busy as you may panic and forget what they are wearing, how you did hairstyles that day etc.

RyleDup · 04/01/2013 20:13

Even though its a myth flow its entirely plausible that something along those lines could happen.

Booyhoo · 04/01/2013 20:13

yes, and even if that one is urban myth, it is entirely possible and why we should all take a few minutes whenever someone vulnerable is missing.

i was in asda yesterday and say a toddler, she looked around 2ish, swinging on the gate things that are at each end of the alcohol aisle. there were no adults around her so i waited about 30 seconds to see if anyone came for her but they didn't. i heard 2 women talking in a nearby aisle and popped round to ask if they had lost a little girl and they said no so i asked the little girl where mummy or daddy was and she said "away" but didn't seem to indicate where then from about 3 aisles away i head a loud but quite bored sounding "she's with me" i peeked round and there was a woman who had stuck her head out of the end of the clothing aisle, no concern or anything, just a smile and carried on looking at whatever she was holding in her hand. made no attempt to come and get the little girl. i was quite shocked tbh. that girl could have toddled off out through the doors!

lifeintheolddogyet · 04/01/2013 20:18

I've lived in East London a long time now and you can get some proper hard faced judgy people round here. I do like living here but I've noticed that, compared to where my DM lives for example, people feel free to pass comment on each other a lot, for better or worse.

Having said that, this happened to me in Asda in Leyton when my DS1 was a lot younger. I was starting to get frantic when some of the lovely ladies who work there scooped him up at the end of an aisle. I was so, so grateful and they were lovely.

That guard sounds awful. I'd write to head office and find out what their policy is.