AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after a toddler wandered out of a Kent nursery. Two-year-old Chloe is thought to have then spent some time in a traveller's caravan nearby. The youngster, from Carrington Close, Gillingham, was dropped off at the Maryland nursery in The Strand atGillingham. A traveller claims she found her wandering around and took her into her caravan before calling the police.

Chloe's grandmother, Susan Body, said: "My daughter Emma dropped Chloe off at 1.30pm on Monday and when she picked her up at 5pm she was told she had got out for a few minutes but had been picked up immediately. Susan thought nothing of it.

"But then one of the travellers came up to her and said Chloe had been in her caravan for three quarters of an hour. She said she found her wandering around and called the police.

"The travellers shouldn't be there but I was glad they were. I don't know what would have happened if they hadn't been."

The toddler's mother said: "I'm not very happy about what happened - another lady who was walking her dog said she saw my daughter outside. She won't be going back."

Mrs Pearl Underwood, manager of Maryland Nursery, said Chloe left the nursery for a few minutes. "It was a matter of minutes before we brought her back," she said.

A police spokesman said they received a call from two women who said they had found a child alone at 2.22pm and a police car was sent out. But before it arrived, a call was received from the nursery at 2.51 to say the child was back.

The police spokesman said the nursery may not have called the police immediately.

"The child could have been out for a matter of minutes because the nursery staff may have attended to the welfare of the child and not called us immediately," she said.

Ofsted, the government body set up to review schools and nurseries, is now understood to be investigating the incident.