NSW Ambulance rescue 151 kids locked in cars in the past year

Paramedics are forced to break into three cars a week to rescue children accidentally locked in by frantic parents — some as young as just a few days old. Now NSW Ambulance has revealed the desperate Triple 0 calls in a new campaign to warn parents. LISTEN TO THE CALLS.

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Paramedics are forced to break into three cars a week to rescue children accidentally locked in by frantic parents — some as young as just a few days old.

Recent tests of the interiors of unattended cars showed temperatures quickly rocketing to 78C.

So NSW Ambulance is today releasing data on every single rescue made in the last year as well as two Triple O calls by desperate parents as part of a new campaign to warn parents to be extra vigilant as the days get hotter and busier in the summer silly season.

NSW Ambulance will launch a new campaign directed at parents to be extra careful this summer in relation to kids in cars. Picture: AAP Image/Angelo Velardo

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In the past 12 months alone, NSW Ambulance has had to rescue 151 children locked in cars, with some stuck inside the vehicle for as long as 40 minutes and experiencing shallow breathing by the time rescuers got to them.

And the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting NSW will have a hotter than average summer this year.

NSW Ambulance chief inspector Brian Parcell said the service wanted to stress to parents that leaving children alone in cars was deadly.

Weather forecasters are predicting a warmer summer than usual. Picture: Supplied

“The consequences of inadvertently locking your child in the car or leaving your child in the car can be catastrophic and no parent would ever want a situation where their child is dragged unconscious from the vehicle,” Inspector Parcell said.

He has seen the tragedy first hand — Inspector Parcell was one of the paramedics who attended the horror case on Christmas Eve 2016, where a three-year-old girl died after being left sleeping in the car at the family home in the Western Sydney suburb of Glenmore.

“It’s a job I’ll remember to the day I die … I remember vividly the wail and scream of the parents as we desperately tried to save the child,” he said.

Northern Beaches mum Nicole Kay-Clough is one of the parents who has released their triple-0 calls to help warn others. She accidentally locked her one-year-old son Cash in her car in August this year after she gave him her keys.

Nicole Kay-Clough has shared her story to warn other parents. Picture: David Swift.

“He started to cry and get really distressed, seeing my little boy crying and not being able to get to him was hard,” Ms Kay-Clough said.

She said she now wears her keys in a lanyard around her neck to make sure it never happens again. “I felt really stupid, it happens so quickly.”

Albury dad Shane, who asked for his last name not to be published, also accidentally locked his two-year-old son in his car on a 37 degree in January this year.

“You do need to be vigilant kids are kids and they will grab doors and press buttons,” he said.