A two-year-old shocked her parents when she escaped from nursery and walked half a mile home on her own.
Louise Hilton, on her third day at nursery, made her successful bid for freedom after leaving Windmill Hill Primary School, in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Her furious father, John Hilton, 30, said she was able to leave the premises and walk unaided to her home passed a pub, through two underground subways and through woodland and a canal.
At just before 2pm she eventually turned up unharmed at the door of gobsmacked mum Samantha, 30, who had walked her to the school just hours earlier.
She told her stunned mum: “I have walked home on my own, aren’t I a big girl?”
The girl’s angry dad John said his daughter would never return to the school which he said had refused to offer an explanation.
He told the Liverpool Echo : “My girlfriend had walked her to school at 10am and a few hours later she knocked on the door and said ‘I have walked home on my own, aren’t I a big girl’?”
“She had gone to the toilet with no supervision and walked out of a fire exit which failed to sound an alarm.
“She has then managed to walk out of the electric gates, I can only assume they were open.”
John added: “It is frightening to think what might of happened had the wrong person seen her.
“There is a canal 50 yards from the house and she always tries to jump in and feed the ducks when we go past but she cannot swim.
“The school has not given me an apology and I have contacted the appropriate authorities as I just want every child who goes to that school to be safe.”
Today Cheshire Police said they were aware of the incident and said early investigations suggested “the child escaped after workmen left a door open”.
A Halton council spokesman said: “Windmill Hill Nursery is a private and voluntary setting which is registered with Ofsted. Halton Borough Council has been providing advice and support to the nursery following notification of the incident.”