A mum is demanding answers after her two-year-old son wandered out of nursery and tried to cross a busy road.
Toddler Linden Smith and his friend managed to evade staff who were supposed to be watching them and went missing for several minutes, Becky Worrall says.
Hillside House Nursery in Hook-A-Gate, near Shrewsbury, has since "profusely" apologised and begun disciplinary action following the incident earlier this month.
The two kids managed to escape through an insecure gate.
A dog walker spotted the pair as they tried to cross over the road before waving down oncoming traffic.
Linden has since been taken out of the nursery and is being looked after by a child minder.
Becky told the Shropshire Star : "I was very upset, they could have wandered off into the local woodland and drowned or been run over.
"I was very, very upset and angry but now I feel livid."
Becky said she was initially told the tots had crawled under a gate, before discovering the gate was unlocked.
She understands they were missing for "more than three minutes" after four staff members failed to notice them leaving.
The mum-of-three was called by the nursery at 12.15pm on October 14 and told about the incident, and invited for a meeting.
She said: "I think it is absolutely shocking. I don't feel they have dealt properly with it at all. The gate was unlocked, but where were the visual checks?"
Becky added she will "forever be in the debt and forever grateful" of the stranger who stopped the traffic.
A spokesperson for Hillside House Nursery said staff are "devastated" and take "great care" in their safeguarding policies.
They said a faulty padlock has been replaced and additional security measures implemented, and disciplinary proceedings have begun.
The spokesperson added that the local authority and Ofsted have been informed, with the latter undertaking a compliance call.
The Mirror has contacted Hillside House Nursery for further comment.
