I’m a big boy now, says solo shopper Roscoe, 3

Constable Mark Stanton with Roscoe Nightingale, aged 3. Picture / Richard Robinson

Roscoe Nightingale, just turned 3, felt he was more than old enough to go out on a big adventure - without telling anyone.

So, on Monday morning the Mt Albert boy climbed up on to a coffee table, opened the front door and set out for a spot of shopping.

As he made his way barefoot along Aroha Ave, down an alleyway and across a street and into a busy carpark his mother, Mary Nightingale, was frantically searching the streets.

Ms Nightingale said she left her twin boys, Roscoe and Kiahn, in the living room while she went to turn on the computer.

Five minutes later she called out to check on them but only Kiahn replied. "I called out Kiahn and he went, 'Yes'. Then I called out Roscoe and Kiahn went, 'Yes' again. I could tell it was the same voice so I walked back into the living room."

When Ms Nightingale asked Kiahn where his brother was, the twin replied " ... he's gone shopping". Fearing the worst, Ms Nightingale rushed outside but he was nowhere to be seen.

After driving up and down the road, which is cluttered with large piles of inorganic rubbish, she called the police for help and within minutes up to a dozen officers were scouring the area.

Young Roscoe was having a grand time at the mall, half a kilometre away.

After finding himself a cartoon notebook and matching crayon in Toyworld - where he told a staff member he was waiting for his mum - he decided to head back home, by way of the local park.

He was heading towards the swings in Warren Freer Park when Constable Mark Stanton and a St Lukes security officer found him.

It was half an hour since he had been reported missing.

"I said, 'Hey Roscoe, is that you?' He just looked up and said, 'I want to go home'," said Mr Stanton.

Ms Nightingale said she had often walked to the mall with Roscoe but he had never ventured out on his own before.

When they were reunited she asked him where he had been, and he replied "I went shopping all by myself ... I'm a big boy now".

Balmoral Senior Sergeant Richard Chambers praised the large team of officers who rushed to find him, as did Ms Nightingale and her family.

"There's been so much negativity against the police recently," said his grandmother, Meleseke Nightingale. "After what happened on Monday I can only think thank God they are there for us."