Childcare centre Okeedokee fined after two toddlers found wandering onto busy streets

A Gold Coast childcare centre has been fined more than $15,000 after a court heard it failed to provide adequate supervision or protection two children who ‘escaped’ from the grounds.

A Gold Coast childcare centre has been fined more than $15,000 after two toddlers wandered off the grounds and towards a busy road.

Representatives for Okeedokee Kids Trust appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday following action from the Queensland Education Department.

The toddlers wandered away from Okeedokeekids Coomera Rivers in October last year and ended up beside the nearby Foxwell Road, one of the northern Gold Coast’s busiest thoroughfares.

The two young children were found at the edge of a busy road after wandering off from the childcare centre. Credit: 7NEWS via NCA NewsWire

Students from a nearby primary school rushed to help the toddlers, both aged two, while footage of their escapade was captured on dashcam footage from a shocked passing motorist.

It is understood the toddlers made their way out of an open gate at the childcare centre, before coming dangerously close to peak hour traffic on Foxwell Road.

In court on Monday, Magistrate Joan White imposed a fine of $15,600 on Okeedokee, ruling the service failed to:

– provide the children with adequate supervision

– take reasonable precautions to protect children from harm and hazards likely to cause injury

– ensure the children did not leave the premises

– take reasonable steps to ensure staff followed supervision and child safety policies

Okeedokee and the education department have been contacted for comment.

At the time, the Coomera couple who captured the incident on camera, Rondelle Nicol and Craig Rogers, said it was a close call.

Dashcam footage captured the incident. Credit: 7NEWS via NCA NewsWire

“We were just driving back from the shops and as we came off the roundabout we saw the two babies with nobody nearby,” Ms Nicol said.

“At first we thought the parent must be back a bit too far and had let them run ahead, but then we realised there were no parents at all.

“Then we saw the girls up ahead and thought they must have been related and were being a bit irresponsible by letting the babies run off ahead – but we realised they were actually all alone.”

Originally published as Childcare centre Okeedokee fined after two toddlers found wandering onto busy streets