A toddler walked home alone after leaving his nursery without staff realising.

Three-year-old Liam Radcliffe showed up on his mother's door step, half a mile away, in tears after finding his way home past busy roads in Barassie, South Ayrshire.

Sarra Reid had taken him to the Barassie early years centre on Thursday, January 25, which he regularly attends.

She said: "I dropped him off at nursery in the morning and he was a bit upset but staff assured me he would be fine and settle in shortly so I just headed home.

"Around an hour later though I heard someone crying at my front door and when I opened it there he was sitting crying his wee eyes out.

"I felt absolutely sick and devastated when I saw him, I couldn't believe it."

Ms Reid then took him back to the South Ayrshire Council-run centre to speak to the staff who were unaware he had left the building.

She continued: "So I went right back to the nursery with him and was met with shocked staff who didn't even apologise right away.

"It was really terrible, anything could have happened to him, he could have been snatched or hit by a car and I'm just lucky I was home.

"What if I had nipped out to the shops? He could have gone to the park to play or gone to the beach and gotten lost.

"It really doesn't bear thinking about."

Ms Reid is now calling for nurseries across Scotland to have more thorough checks to avoid incidents like this happening again.

"As far as I'm aware no one's been punished or no serious action has been taken following this incident which is shocking.

"I'm really upset about it. More needs done - if it can happen to Liam it can happen to any child."

In response, South Ayrshire Council's director of educational service Douglas Hutchison said: "Following a recent incident where a child left the Barassie early years centre for a short time, additional security measures have been put in place.

"We take our children's safety very seriously and the new way of working will help ensure that such an incident doesn't happen again."