Man drives 140km across Spain without realising he left his 10-year-old at a petrol station

The most I’ve ever forgotten to put back in the car was my daughter’s shoes, which I left on the roof. Obviously, by the time I realised, they were long gone and probably somewhere in a ditch by the side of the road.  There are plenty of things you can accidentally leave behind during a journey, but some people take forgetting to put things in the car to a completely different extreme.

One Spanish father for example drove 140 kilometres without realising he had left his 10-year-old son behind at a petrol station. The boy was travelling with his father, his father’s friend and his seven-year-old brother when they stopped at a service station on the A-66 near Aldea del Cano, Cáceres, at around 8.30pm on Sunday. The boy got out of the vehicle during the stop but did not get back in before the others drove away, apparently without anyone noticing that he was missing. 

The 10-year-old is left behind

While the car continued north along the A-66, the boy remained at the petrol station. The Guardia Civil was alerted that a child had been left alone and officers took charge of him while they worked out where the vehicle had gone. CCTV footage from the petrol station showed the boy getting out of the car and not returning before it departed. 

The central 062 service was used to gather information about the vehicle and establish that it was travelling north. Officers then set up a search operation along the motorway. The car was eventually located at around 11:00pm near Hervás, still on the A-66 and more than 140 kilometres from the petrol station where the boy had been left, by then, around two and a half hours had passed since the stop at Aldea del Cano and by then the boy was wondering if his brother was his dads favourite child.

Guardia Civil cared for the boy while father was located

While officers searched for the vehicle, the 10-year-old remained under the care of the Guardia Civil at the service station. Once the car was found, the occupants began the journey back to collect him. The boy was subsequently reunited with his relatives, with no injuries or other physical consequences reported. 

The available reports describe the incident as accidental, there is no indication that the child was deliberately left at the service station, and there have been no reports of arrests or criminal proceedings against the father over the incident.  The circumstances were established partly through the petrol station’s security cameras, which allowed officers to see that the child had got out but had not returned to the vehicle before it left.

A 140km journey nobody realised was missing a passenger

The extraordinary part of the incident is not simply that the boy was left behind, but how far the vehicle travelled before located by the Guardia Civil. The journey from Aldea del Cano to the area of Hervás is more than 140 kilometres by road. Google maps estimates that the drive normally takes around two hours and 20 minutes along the A-66. 

During that time, the father, his friend and the seven-year-old continued travelling north while the 10-year-old remained at the petrol station. The Guardia Civil’s intervention meant the situation was resolved that same evening, with officers staying with the boy until they could establish where the vehicle was and arrange his reunion with his relatives.

Check all passengers 

The Guardia Civil has since reminded motorists to check that all passengers have returned to the vehicle before setting off, particularly when travelling with children. They said a simple check can prevent a much bigger problem, especially with your wife if you’ve forgotten your son.

For most drivers, forgetting something after a motorway stop means discovering a missing bag, phone, jacket or, in my case, a pair of children’s shoes somewhere along the road. For this father, it meant discovering that one of his passengers had been left 140 kilometres behind, but only because the Guardia Civil located him and told him he was short of a passenger, it probably would had been more if not!