Mum's anger after community group leaves boy behind after panto visit

Jack Ross was left stranded at the King's after enjoying Allan Stewart and co in the panto

But Dale Macbeth did not expect her nine-year-old's visit to the King's pantomime to turn into so much of a drama.

Ms Macbeth, a 30-year-old housewife, is furious with the council-run Inch House Community Centre after he was left behind in the theatre toilets on a trip at the weekend.

It was only when theatre staff tracked down Jack Ross' grandparents that he was able to be safely collected, as the group drove back to the Inch completely unaware of his absence.

The council has apologised for the mistake, and praised the boy's calm behaviour when he realised he was lost.

The group had taken in the afternoon showing of Jack and the Beanstalk. At the end, the Lasswade Primary pupil sought permission to go to the toilet, which was granted, but when he emerged the party containing 13 other children had left without him.

"Fortunately his grandparents had given him a mobile phone for Christmas, so the theatre was able to contact my dad from there," said Ms Macbeth.

"He lives just next to the youth centre, and as he left to get him the minibus pulled up. He asked where Jack was, to which they replied he was on the bus - so clearly they hadn't done a headcount."

While the panic was eased when the boy was collected 45 minutes later, she said there had been significant risk of a less happy ending.

"He's fine about it now, the theatre was great with him, but I don't even want to think about what could have happened.

"Imagine he'd gone out to look for the bus when he came out of the toilets. He's very trusting and doesn't know the area. He won't be going back to that youth group. I'm angry about not only the fact it was allowed to happen, but that I've not heard from them to apologise.

"There were only 14 children - how hard must it have been to get them on the bus and do a simple count?"

A spokeswoman for the council said: "We teach young people to contact a responsible adult if they get separated from their group, which is precisely what Jack did in this situation.

"We are obviously very sorry that this happened. Staff attempted to contact the boy's parents but because telephone contact could not be made, a written apology was sent first thing on Monday morning."