A toddler was left alone in a Tesco car park for at least 30 minutes as her childminder did the shopping, the Sutton Guardian has learned.

The two-year-old girl was left in the back seat of a car as her 69-year-old carer walked the aisles while calls for the vehicle's owner rang out over the superstore's PA.

When she got back to the car the minder was arrested on suspicion of neglect.

Witnesses at the Tesco Extra in Oldfields Road, Sutton, told Sutton police who then waited by the vehicle for the driver to return.

One said: "The child was in the car on her own while the childminder did her shopping.

"The child was only two.

"All the public were there. They noticed the child in the car on its own.

"The child's minder took her elderly mother to the shops.

"They kept announcing the registration number for at least 30 minutes.

"It was unbelievable. You wouldn't leave your dog on its own in the car park, let alone a baby.

"There were two police cars there and the baby has had to go into the police's protection until the parents come.

"That woman should never be allowed to look after another child. As a mum myself imagine if that was your kid.

"You trust these people.

"I just thought 'oh my goodness somebody has parked in the wrong place' but it was some little girl left in a car."

The witness added that the child was 'absolutely screaming' during the incident.

Sutton police said they were called at 11.13am today to a report of a baby left alone in a vehicle in the car park at Tesco.

A spokesman said: "Enquiries led police to believe that the child may have been left alone for at least 30 minutes.

"A woman, aged 69, has been arrested on suspicion of neglect.

"The child, a girl aged about two, is being looked after at Sutton police station."

The child was said to be none the worse for her experience and was 'currently sitting on an officer’s lap munching contentedly on a biscuit'.