These heart-in-mouth inducing pics show a member of the public plucking a four-year-old boy and his two-year-old toddler sister to safety after they were found wandering on a DUAL CARRIAGEWAY.
The tiny children had managed to walk out of their gran's home in Birmingham unnoticed.
They ended up trying to cross one of the city's busiest roads, the A38 Tyburn Road in Erdington.
Motorist Linda Young spotted the children and stopped her car, walking them to safety, as other motorists had to take prompt action to avoid hitting them.
When police arrived at the children's home, they found the residence littered with empty aerosols used by their solvent-addict dad. The children's bedroom was full of half eaten food, whilst raw meat was found on a bed. A bottle of liquid paracetamol was also discovered.
The 28-year-old father and 24-year-old mother - who cannot be named for legal reasons - admitted two charges of child cruelty each at Birmingham Crown Court.
The dad was handed down an 18 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, whilst the children's mother was given an 18 month community order.
The prosecution said the children had been staying with their paternal grandmother when they wandered out into the road at 8.45am on March 27. When they were found, the little boy was shoeless, whilst his sister was wearing a dirty pink all-in-one.
Describing the scenes when officers searched the parents' house, Ms Raj for the prosecution told the court that the children's bedroom had a half-buttered piece of bread and a knife with butter on it on the bed.
'When the bed sheets were pulled back, there was a bottle of liquid paracetamol. There was also a bag containing raw meat on one of the pillows,' she said.
'In the living room, they found carrier bags with empty butane gas canisters and loose cans.'
Miss Raj said the stairs in the property were steep but there was no stair gate and the front door was unlocked.
Judge Elizabeth Fisher told the court:'By the grace of God a member of the public stopped her own car.
'Certainly CCTV footage in the area shows exactly the risk in which the children were placed. When the police first came to the address, you were both still asleep.'
Passing sentence, the judge said she accepted the mother was a 'vulnerable young lady' who had been in a 'somewhat abusive' relationship.
What a truly shocking story.
Almost as shocking as this of a baby crawling on a motorway.