Father gets the shock of his life as he leaves daughter at petrol station on Spain’s Costa del Sol

WE can all relate to that sinking feeling when you check your pockets for your beloved phone or wallet and feel nothing but the lining of your jeans.

None of us can imagine however the feeling of realising that you have misplaced not just one of your belongings, but your own daughter.

Well this precise feeling was experienced in full by a man in the Casabermeja area of Malaga on Sunday.

Workers from the Repsol petrol station at the Las Pedrizas service area were stunned when a scared and crying seven-year-old girl entered the shop saying that she was alone and scared.

Staff immediately called 112 and Policia Local officers soon arrived on the scene to try to figure out why the girl had been left alone at the busy rest stop.

The puzzle was soon solved when the girl’s frantic father contacted the station to ask if his daughter was there, and once confirmed, returned immediately to be reunited with his lost child.

According to the police report, the man had arrived at the petrol station to refuel his car with AdBlue diesel additive, and told his children, a 14-year-old boy and the girl, to stay in the car.

The girl had different ideas however and unbeknown to the the other passengers, she got out the car and began playing out of sight of the car.

The father returned to the car not realising his daughter was missing and drove off, and was a couple of kilometres down the AP-46 before he noticed the empty back seat.

He turned round immediately once he discovered his daughter was still at the service station, and was soon reunited to put an end to what must be every parents nightmare.

So next time you set off on a journey, remember to make sure you have your essentials with you, phone wallet, keys…and your children.