A MOTHER told how she immediately withdrew her son from Bank House Day Nursery after watching footage from an undercover BBC investigation into the Radcliffe-based private nursery.

Mrs Caroline Mullineaux was approached by a BBC reporter to view footage from the documentary Nurseries Undercover: The Real Story, which was shown on Thursday evening of last week.

The nursery in Blackburn Street was one of a number of nurseries featured in the programme.

Mrs Caroline Mullineaux, whose two-year-old son Lucas attended the nursery, said: "Although I was told that there was no abuse going on. What I saw was enough to make me withdraw my son."

"He was being shouted at in a way you do not shout at children. The member of staff was completely over-reacting to Lucas, who did not know he was doing anything wrong. She wanted him to sit on the floor, and he was sitting on a chair.

"In the footage I saw, the staff did not show any respect for the children"

Mrs Mullineaux, who lives in Dean Street, Radcliffe, said she was told that no checks were made on the undercover reporter.

"This reporter was not vetted, which is very concerning," said the mother-of-two.

"I know people have their own opinions on programmes such as this one, but, for me, I know I have made the right decision for Lucas."

But Mrs Mullineaux criticised the BBC for not releasing the findings of their investigation earlier.

"The BBC have sat on this since January and have only told parents now. The real victims in all of this are the parents and the children."

Another mum Anna Berry, of Olsberg Close, Radcliffe, said she was upset after watching children, including her daughter Kaitlin O'Donnell (1) being shouted at "for crying" and being "left to fend for themselves".

"I pay good money to send my daughter to nursery. What I saw was children just walking round the room receiving no attention at all. It was very upsetting."

Both children now attend other Radcliffe nurseries.

Miss Jenny Rivers, co-owner of Bank House said Ofsted had inspected the 18-year-old nursery and given it the highest rating of "good".

"We do not understand why the BBC included us in the programme," she said.

"We have been shown the clips and, far from showing any lack of care for the children, they seem to show quite the opposite."

She added that the matter was now in the hands of her solicitor.

The police, who have viewed the scenes, say that nothing untoward happened.

The BBC maintains that there was "clear breaches of Ofsted guidelines" about the vetting of staff.

"The production team at no stage made allegations that there were child protection issues at the nursery," said a statement.