Mom goes shopping, leaving boy, 4, in hot car

Durban - A Pretoria woman left her four-year-old son in her hot car while she went shopping at a KwaZulu-Natal mall on Friday afternoon, paramedics said.

A concerned citizen noticed the boy in the car, in the parking lot at Tiffany’s shopping centre, on the Dolphin Coast, and communicated with him through the small gap left open in the car’s window, IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Paul Herbst said. 

The person waited with the child for 10 minutes before phoning emergency services. 

“When confronted by the member of public, her response was that she does it all the time and it is perfectly safe,” he said. 

The woman got into her car and sped off.

Herbst appealed to members of the public not to leave young children or animals unaccompanied in hot vehicles.

“This is not an acceptable practice and emergency services will force entry into such vehicles.”