A mum has spoken of her concern after her four-year-old son, who has special educational needs and epilepsy stemming from a genetic disorder, was allegedly left in the back of a van by an Oldham nursery.

Kim, who did not wish to share her full name or the names of her child and husband, said her alleged experience at Medlock Day Nursery has left her child, now aged five, screaming and in a ‘hysterical fit’ every time they drive past the nursery.

She says she is speaking publicly about her story as she has never received an apology for the incident and wants parents to be able to make an informed decision.

Kim, who works in Manchester, and her husband, who works in Cheshire, have had to change their working hours as they do not feel comfortable sending their son to any after-school club, meaning Kim is now having to follow a different path in her career.

The alleged incident occurred on September 13, 2022, on the first day Kim’s son was due to attend an after-school club at the nursery.

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The mum said: “We hadn’t used Medlock Day Nursery before, but we were going to use them as an after-school club.

“They were going to pick him up from his school and take him back to the nursery and take care of him until we picked him up.

“His first day there was September 13, and the incident occurred on his first day.

"They collected him from school at just after three before leaving in their minibus, then collecting from another school after that.”

Nervous about her son’s first day at the after-school club, Kim said she decided to call the nursery to see how it was going.

She continued: “I heard all the children playing in the background and I asked to see how he’d been.

"They said ‘Yeah, he was great’ and word-for-word they actually said ‘He’s washing his hands and getting ready to have an afternoon snack'.

“So I thought nothing more of it, it was reassuring to think he was fine on his first day there.”

Kim’s husband picked up their son from the club at about 4pm – having got off work earlier than usual that day.

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She said: “When dad arrived on the site he walked towards the main entrance door and heard screaming and banging in the minibus, and basically shouting ‘daddy, daddy’ from the bus.

“He found our son in their minibus, which was unlocked. He saw him banging the window, ran over and opened the unlocked minibus, grabbed him out.

“[Our son] was screaming and crying uncontrollably, he had wet himself and was sweating very profusely, clearly dehydrated.

“My husband went into the nursery and banged on the door, understandably he was visibly upset and angry.

“The manager had left the nursery by this point, so we knew he had been in the minibus that whole time even though I was told he was in the room washing his hands and having a snack.

“It’s clear they’d not done a count or register of children in the after-school club room.

“There were three carers and assistants co-ordinating the children and not one had noticed him being missing from that, let alone them actually saying he was washing his hands and having a snack.”

Kim said she thinks dehydration, combined with her son’s special needs could have led to a ‘very serious incident’.

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She added: “The manager refused to come back to the site to see us and speak to us directly, it was only when we actually called the police that they agreed to come back."

Greater Manchester Police confirmed it received a call at 4.10pm on the day of the incident.

The force said officers did not attend the call, but confirmed it did refer the incident to Ofsted.

A notice on Ofsted’s website shows the complaint led to a visit from Ofsted the next day, following a complaint by the parents.

The provider’s registration was suspended for three weeks, as Ofsted believed that ‘children may be at risk of harm’, with the nursery said to not meet some of the requirements.

Medlock Day Nursery also notified Ofsted of a ‘significant incident’, according to Ofsted.

The nursery was told it needed to ensure that children were not exposed to unnecessary risks, with particular regard to supervision arrangements on outings.

The nursery’s suspension was lifted on October 6, 2022, with Ofsted said to be ‘satisfied that the identified risk of harm to children has been removed’.

The complaint was the second recorded that year by the watchdog, with another complaint lodged in March 2022 also resulting from a ‘significant incident’ leading to the watchdog telling the nursery to ensure children were ‘safe and adequately supervised’.

Kim is worried that this will be one of her son’s first memories, given the reaction he has every time the family drives past the nursery.

The mother says she wants an apology from the nursery, and thinks they should stop offering the after-school club.

She added: “We’ve had no apology from anyone at the nursery, the manager was really resistant to speaking to us on the day or admitting any fault at all.

“The same people we can see still at the nursery, I see them still picking up kids.”

When contacted by The Oldham Times via email, Medlock Day Nursery was resistant in speaking and said the facts presented to them were ‘not true’, but refused to clarify further.

In a follow-up phone call the newspaper was initially hung up on, but a staff member, who refused to give her name, questioned the ‘purpose and public interest’ in publishing the story, given the incident happened last year.

When asked whether the incident happened, the staff member responded “well you know it happened, but what you’ve said didn’t happen, the facts you’ve been given didn’t happen”.

When asked for further clarification, the staff member told The Oldham Times that the information had been ‘sensationalised’ and was ‘defamatory’ but refused to elaborate further, after telling The Oldham Times not to print the article.

The family has forwarded copies of their complaints made to Ofsted and Tameside Council, details of which appear to match the information given to The Oldham Times.

Cllr Shaid Mushtaq, Oldham Council’s cabinet member for children and young people said: “No one should have to go through what that young child did – what happened at the time was unacceptable.

“The setting did then work with the council to address the issues raised by Ofsted and it can continue to access a range of advice, guidance and training in order to support the delivery of high quality care and education.

“Ofsted is the regulatory body who will ultimately be the organisation to review the setting and we are guided by their further judgement.”

Ofsted said it did not comment on individual complaints.