A French family heading for a holiday in the south of France drove 93 miles before finding out they had left their 3-year-old daughter behind at a highway picnic area.

Even then, they only realized because of an alert broadcast on the radio.

The girl was abandoned on Sunday afternoon at the Bras de Zil rest-stop south of Valence.

By the time another family had found the girl, her parents were already well on their way to their destination.

The girl was apparently left at around midday near Loriol, at a picnic stop beside the A7 highway known as the “autoroute du soleil” (highway of the sun).

The family who found the girl waited some time for her parents to return, but then alerted local police.

The girl told officers she was on her way to the beach, had a brother and sister and had seen her dad’s car drive off.

It was not until police broadcast an appeal on a highway radio channel that her father contacted them at around three o’clock. The family had already driven past Aix-en-Provence on their way south.

The family was eventually reunited more than two hours later.

Local prosecutors were considering whether to take action against the parents.