Leaving kids in the car is ’unacceptable’, says ISPCC

LEAVING children alone in cars is unacceptable, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said yesterday amid reports of a growing number of parents leaving their children in the car while they go shopping.

It is not unusual for shopping centre security personnel to find babies and toddlers left alone in cars once or twice a week.

One security guard attached to a busy shopping centre in Dublin said his colleagues found children left alone in five or six cars every day.

The usual drill adopted by security staff, who are most uncomfortable with the situation, is to have one guard stand by the car while the registration number is called out over the centre's public address system.

One woman discovered children left alone in two cars outside a busy shopping centre in Lucan, Co Dublin. It was a particularly hot day and she noticed that the hair of the baby girl in one of the cars was completely matted with sweat.

"It's just crazy to leave children alone in cars outside shopping centres. They are being exposed to all sorts of risks that I don't even like thinking about," said ISPCC chief executive, Paul Gilligan.

The practice was unacceptable, he said, and shopping centres, who wanted to be seen as child-friendly, should encourage parents to always take their children shopping with them.

While the message needed to be given in a pro-active way, shopping centres should also make it clear that it is unacceptable to leave children alone in cars.

"While I don't want to be been coming down like a ton of bricks on parents, lines have to be drawn here. Most parents will welcome clarity on the position and will do what they are told," he said.

Under the 2001 Children Act it is an offence to wilfully ill-treat, neglect or abandon a child, but it is believed that no one in Ireland has ever been prosecuted for such an offence.

A person found guilty of such an offence in the District Court faces a fine of up to €1,500 and/or up 12 months imprisonment.

Those tried by a jury in a higher court could be fined up to €10,000 and/or jailed for up to seven years.

The Rules of the Road clearly states that infants or young children should never be left unattended in a car.

Brian Farrell of the National Safety Council said parents needed to realise the risks they were taking when they left very young children alone in cars.

"The car could ignite, children could experience breathing problems if left alone in a car with all the windows closed on a warm day.

"Children could also become trapped in electronically-operated windows and die as a result and that has happened," he said.