Father's concern over crèche care

12:06pm Tuesday 21st November 2000

AN appalled father is calling on a Garston supermarket to investigate the care given to children being looked after in its crèche facilities.

Mr Martin Duke, of London Colney, left his son with minders at Asda at the Dome Roundabout on at about 10.30am on Monday, November 13, while he went shopping.

But when he returned an hour later he found that his son Joshua, three, had soiled his underwear.

The single father of three children, who said there were about ten children in the facility and two or three minders at the time, complained: "I'm concerned because this has never happened before at nursery or anywhere else and I can't understand why the adults looking after him did not notice.

"Joshua always asks if he needs to go to the toilet and if there is one there he will go by himself. But on this occasion the toilet was locked.

Mr Duke, 52, added: "I'm wondering whether this is a regular occurrence or was just a one-off, as these things can happen. It's been a while since I last visited and then Joshua was wearing nappies.

"To add insult to injury, they provided me with a clean pair of pants for Joshua and asked me for £1, which I didn't pay and when I complained to the manager he seemed disinterested."

An Asda spokesman said the toilet was locked for safety reasons and the three or four staff who were supervising the children regularly asked them if they needed to use the toilet, at least three of four times during the hour Mr Duke was away, he said.

He added: "We are sorry, but Joshua never said at any stage that he wanted to use the toilet and he had a little accident."