A British tourist has sparked a furious backlash after he “abandoned” his baby daughter and her seven-year-old sister inside a car while on holiday in Tenerife.
The Arona Local Police was called in when a concerned resident in Las Galletas noticed the two young girls inside the vehicle, which had been parked in the sun and left with the windows shut.
The 34-year-old woman told the authorities the older girl had said her father was at a hairdresser in the Apolo Commercial Centre in Los Cristianos.
The girl ultimately unlocked the car but remained inside with her baby sister while the woman became increasingly concerned as the father failed to show up after 15 minutes, prompting her to call the police.
Officers later confirmed they found two girls, one of whom was less than a year old, inside a car and found a bag containing yoghurts and juices as well as the ID of their alleged father.
The girls, two British nationals, were identified using copies of their passports and the vehicle rental contract found inside the car.
Police attempted to reach the person responsible for the car and then tried to locate the girls’ father inside the shopping centre.
A Policía Local de Canarias report claims a 38-year-old British man was stopped but initially denied any relationship with the girls.
As the man’s name did not match the details of the rental contract, authorities had the girls transferred into the custody of social services at the Nuestra Señora de la Paz Maternal Centre in La Laguna.
The renter of the vehicle, however, confirmed that the 38-year-old that the police had stopped was responsible for the car but he had fled the premises in the meantime.
A Polish national later arrived at the shopping centre claiming to be a friend of the girls’ carers and said he had been asked to collect the girls. Authorities refused to release them into his custody until the confirmed identification of their caregivers.
The girls’ mother, a 27-year-old British tourist, was eventually contacted and she collected her daughters after she was formally identified at the care centre.
The unnamed 38-year-old man was reported for allegedly abandoning the girls and now faces arrest.