French family ''forget' 3-year-old daughter at services and drive 150km before hearing radio alert

A French family could be in hot water after forgetting they had left their three-year-old daughter at a services and driving for 150km (93 miles) towards their destination on the Riviera without noticing she was missing - and even then only realising when an alert was put out over the radio.

The family were on their way to Saint-Raphael on the Cote D'Azur when the little girl was left at Bras de Zil services near Loriol on the A7, known as the "autoroute du soleil" (motorway of the sun). She was looked after by a tourist couple who waited for the child's parents to come back.

When her parents and older siblings failed to return, the police were called. The girl told them she had "one brother and one sister" and "was going to the beach" when she "saw daddy's car drive off."

An alert was then put out on traffic news radio station 107.7FM and two hours after the child had been rescued the girl's father called the police. By now he had driven 150km without he or anyone else noticing his daughter's absence. The family were reunited with their daughter late Sunday afternoon (9 August).

A police officer told France24: "The family had passed Aix-en-Provence and were going towards Saint-Raphael and none of them had noticed she wasn't there.

"We are going to listen to what they have to say and talk to the prosecutor at Valence to see if this should be taken further."

In 2012 Prime Minister David Cameron accidentally left his 8-year-old daughter Nancy in a pub following Sunday lunch near the family home.