A TAXI driver was hailed a hero last night after rescuing a three-year-old toddler she found wandering the streets alone in the early hours of Sunday morning (Sunday, February 22).

Mary Cartwright could not believe her eyes when she saw the toddler, dressed only in a Sunderland football strip and short pants in freezing temperatures, walking along a busy road at 3am.

The Peterlee town councillor, who had collected a fare in Sunderland city centre, noticed the tearful boy as she drove through the Grangetown area of the city.

She pulled over and scooped up the sobbing toddler, who was freezing cold and hopelessly lost, before keeping him warm in her taxi until police arrived.

It later emerged the youngster had sneaked out of his home about a quarter of a mile away while his mother slept, oblivious to his absence.

Sunderland duty inspector Neal Craig said: “We can confirm a three-year-old boy, who is new to the area and unfamiliar with the new house, and has woken up in the night and mistakenly let himself out, while his mother was asleep.

“It was an unfortunate mistake, but it had a happy ending. His was very relieved.

“I have to praise to the taxi driver who took the child into her car kept him safe and warm and called the police immediately.

“She’s very much the local hero, I would say. She did all the right things.”

Cllr Cartwright said: “The boy could have run into the road and been run over, because there are lots of taxis coming past there at that time of the morning.

“Or he could have been picked up by someone bad and taken away or could have sat down, fallen asleep and died of the cold. It could have been horrendous.”

Cllr Cartwright said she had picked up two young couples and was travelling along Queen Alexandra road approaching Ryhope Road when she spotted the boy near the roundabout.

She said: “I looked to the left and looked again. I couldn't believe my eyes... there was a tiny little boy.

“I pulled over straight away, just past him, and jumped straight out of the car as he was going off the kerb toward the middle of the road.

“I ran up and scooped him up in my arms. He was sobbing and crying and shaking. It was freezing cold. All he had on was a Sunderland strip and tiny little shorts and socks.”

She added: “I cuddled him wiped his eyes and brought him back to the taxi. The lad in the front of the taxi took the top off his back and wrapped it around the boy.”

Cllr Cartwright said when police officers arrived the boy was saying his mum must have gone to the shop because he couldn’t find her.

“I was panic stricken, because I didn’t know whether she may have collapsed somewhere,” she said.

The taxi driver left the boy with police officers and got a call at 5.20am to be told he was safely back with his mother.

She said: “The police couldn’t believe how bright he was. After driving around in the area he recognised a landmark he pointed the way to his home. He must have walked a quarter of a mile.”

She added: “I see all sorts on the road . . . naked people, drunken people, unconscious people, but to see a three-year-old boy was unbelievable. He was a lovely lad.”