IT MUST be every parent’s worst nightmare, arriving late to work only to find out that your child has been in a car accident.

But for Liz Thorne, the shock was even greater.

Because Ms Thorne, 23, from Bicester, had been caught in the traffic behind the very crash which involved her two-year-old son.

Dylan Naylor was travelling with his childminder when the crash happened on the roundabout in the Middleton Stoney Road, Bicester, on Monday.

After kissing her toddler goodbye, Ms Thorne set out to get the bus to work at Park Keepers Nursery and Pre-School, at Heyford Park.

Just minutes after she set off, the people carrier Dylan was in crashed, leaving him with stomach injuries.

And the bus Ms Thorne was travelling in was caught up in the tailbacks.

She said: “I had no idea. I saw the cars but we weren’t close enough to see exactly what was going on.

“When I got to work, my boss said the police were on the phone and said that Dylan had been in an accident. Then I realised it was the one I’d just seen.”

Dad Mike Naylor, 25, was also at work as an under-butler for a private house when he discovered what had happened.

He said: “I picked Liz up and we drove past the scene. It was horrendous. I just looked at the cars and thought ‘god no’.”

The crash happened at 7.55am when a Citroen C5 and the VW Passat carrying Dylan and his childminder collided.

Thankfully the tough toddler has made a good recovery and was discharged from hospital on Tuesday with little more than few bruises.

The couple now want to say a big thank you to staff at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital A&E, South Central Ambulance Service and Tom’s Ward at the Oxford Children’s Hospital for the care they showed their son.

Mr Naylor said: “They were all wonderful. They were so caring and were really reassuring and made us feel completely at ease. The paramedic who picked Dylan up even came back later to check he was ok.”

No one else was seriously injured in the crash.