A teenage boy was abandoned by his parents on the side of a motorway at night.
The 17-year-old was forced to walk a mile along the M11 in Cambridgeshire - an area he was unfamiliar with - alone on the darkest stretch of the motorway.
He called police on an emergency SOS phone and he was taken into temporary police protection.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary's Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit (CAISU) is now probing the incident.
The specialist officers were working to find a place for the boy to live.
A force spokesperson said: "Thanks to officers from our Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit (CAISU), he was temporarily placed in police protection and is in a safer environment while investigations continue into where he will now be happiest.
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"A lot of the work from our CAISU team is sensitive in nature and difficult to share, but examples like this highlight work that goes on behind the scenes and helps highlight our commitment to protecting children – a force priority."
The police are asking anyone with concerns about the safety of a child to contact them as soon as possible.
All reports can be made in confidence and anonymously.
For more information and advice on child protection, including how to report concerns, visit the force’s dedicated web page.
