Boy, 7, locked out of Scottish primary school by mistake and forced to walk home alone

It took 45 minutes minutes for his teacher to report him missing to his mum.

It took 45 minutes for a teacher to report a seven-year-old West Lothian boy missing after he was mistakenly locked out of his primary school.

Scott Neil left his schoolbag in the playground and was told to go and collect it by his teacher at Letham Primary in Livingston when the door locked behind him last Monday.

The Daily Record report that in a panic, Scott couldn't find an available entrance to the building so decided to walk home to Craigshill.

His mum, Bernie, said: "I could not believe my eyes when he showed up at the door.

“It is not too far a walk but he was really cold because, obviously, he did not have his school jacket on.

“So I got him inside and gave him two cups of tea and brought some clothes off the radiator to heat him up. I have broken my leg and was due to go to a hospital appointment that morning.

“It’s really scary to think what would have happened to Scott if I had not been at home.

“I waited rather than just phone the school and it took them 45 minutes from when Scott walked out the playground until they phoned me to say he had gone missing.

“It must have been about 9.15am that he appeared at the door and then it wasn’t until precisely 10.06am that they go in touch to report him missing to me.

“I was stunned and am not happy with the excuses either.

“I have been waiting on the council getting back in touch with me for six days now and have heard nothing. Nobody has apologised to my son and he is suffering from nightmares.”

A 'Safe Arrivals' policy at the school meant that students had to be checked to make sure everyone was in attendance and it was at this point the teacher realised they were one pupil down.

After realising it was Scott who was missing, a thorough check of the school grounds was conducted before Bernie was contacted.

Measures have since been introduced to ensure an incident like this never happens again, say West Lothian Council.

A West Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We regret that a child’s failure to return to class was not picked up immediately in this instance.

“Thankfully, our Safe Arrivals at School policy was followed and flagged up the absence soon after, and it was confirmed that the child was safe at home.

“A number of appropriate actions have been taken following the incident to ensure this does not happen again.”