Moray Council apologises to Buckie mum of four-year-old lost by nursery over complaint mishandling
A four-year-old could have ended up “under the wheels” of a lorry after disappearing from a nursery trip and walking across a busy road, his distraught mum has claimed.
Kristian Enkuzens went missing for 10 minutes during a Lady Cathcart Nursery visit to Buckie’s shorefront, and was discovered standing alone in his high-vis vest saying he was “going to see my Mummy”.
A passing motorist had spotted the toddler on his own in Cluny Square, raising the alarm only after seeing the rest of the group still at the shore.
Nursery staff quickly recovered the child, but Kristian’s mum, Kristina, said it took them almost two hours to tell her about what had happened.
Since the incident, which took place last July, Moray Council’s responses to a complaint about Kristian being lost and other issues have left the mum frustrated.
The council apologised to Kristina in June over how it handled her complaint, after her concerns sparked a re-investigation by a council officer.
A spokesperson for Moray Council said staff “fully appreciate the distressing nature of this incident”, that the nursery has apologised for the incident and the council has apologised “for the way the initial complaint was handled”.
The 41-year-old was at work when she received the “horrendous” phone call telling her that Kristian had been lost.
She said: “I answered the phone, and they said: ‘There has been an incident.’
“From that moment onwards I was holding my breath.
“All I could think was: ‘Is he hurt? Is he in hospital?’
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare not to know where their child is.
“Starting a sentence like that is just horrendous.
“I felt like I was going to have a heart attack - the parent could be dead before you finish the sentence.”
The mum said she was shocked by the incident, which could have had an awful ending.
“It was ten minutes, and so much stuff can go wrong in that time,” Kristina said.
“When they found him, and asked where he was going, he said: ‘I’m going to see my Mummy.’
“But it could have been totally different.
“He was right next to an industrial estate, there are cars and big trucks there.
“He could have gone under the wheels.
“At that age, it’s really difficult because they just don’t know, they just cross the road running.
“He can’t keep himself safe. It could have gone really badly.”
In the wake of the incident, plans were drawn up between Kristina, nursery staff and Moray Council to reassure Kristina and stop future incidents happening in future.
This included the mum having the chance to join Kristian on outings, and phone calls starting with the phrase: “Hi, Kristian is fine.”
However, the incident seriously impacted the mother’s mental health.
“I have really, really bad anxiety and get panic attacks,” Kristina said.
“I had a lot of meetings and, after one, I was just shaking.
“I couldn’t start my car for half an hour, I just sat there shaking.
“For months and months, I took him to sleep with me because I felt like I just couldn’t cope.
“I’m much better now.”
Kristina said the way Moray Council’s education department dealt with her complaint had been “disgraceful”.
A report from June included an official apology by Moray Council to the mum for their mishandling of the issue.
It said: “I apologise that we did not comply with our CHP (Complaints Handling Policy) in our handling of your complaint and accept that it would have been confusing for you to appreciate how it was being handled.
“I uphold this aspect of your complaint.
“As a point of learning, I will provide feedback to the complaint investigator in this case.”
Kristina said she only heard about Moray Council’s complaints procedure after contacting the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, and being told to contact the council.
She first complained in March 2024, which was wrongly recorded as an anonymous complaint, and Moray Council’s first response did not address the fact her son had been lost.
Unhappy, Kristina requested a full investigation.
An April 1 letter said the report would be delayed until April 26. It was eventually sent nearly two weeks after the extended deadline.
And, when the investigation was released, it also failed to mention her child being lost.
Along with criticising Moray Council for mishandling the complaint, and nursery staff for not telling Kristina until nearly two hours after Kristian went missing, the council's final report praised measures taken to prevent similar incidents happening again.
Describing her feelings over how her complaint had been handled, Kristina said: “I feel disappointment, total disappointment, that something so serious was not taken seriously.
“And that’s not Moray Council in general, but the education department.
“It is disgraceful.
“I never thought anything like this would be brushed under the carpet.
“Now that this has happened to me, I will never trust this education department again - never."
She said her goal after the incident is to make people aware, so they can make good choices about which nursery to send their children.
