French family leave child, 3, at motorway rest stop in holiday rush

The family were on their way to the French Riviera when they stopped off for a rest at a service station, The Guardian reported. The parents reportedly asked their other children, a boy and a girl, if everything was okay and no one noticed the toddler was missing.

A family heading for a holiday in the south of France drove 150km (93 miles) before finding out they had left their three-year-old daughter behind at a motorway picnic area.

After calling police the family turned around and raced back to where they had left her and were reunited two hours later.

‘The family had passed Aix-en-Provence, 90 miles away, and were going towards Saint-Raphael and none of them had noticed she wasn’t there, ‘ the officer said.

The girl told officers she was on her way to the beach, had a brother and sister and had seen her dad’s auto drive off.

JOHN SCHULTS/REUTERS The oblivious parents were almost halfway to their destination in the French Riviera when they heard a police broadcast alerting the public about a little girl found at a highway rest stop.

And the couple only worked out their gaffe after a national alert was issued on the radio, authorities said.

Some 45 minutes after the child was found, her parents heard a radio alert and realised what had happened.

The parents were being questioned Sunday evening by officers at the police station where the child was being looked after.

Local police said they would speak to the prosecutor in Valence, a nearby town, to determine if any further action should be taken.