AN ELDERLY and vulnerable woman suffering from dementia spent Monday night locked in a Luton Borough Council passenger transport bus.
The woman, named only as Joanne, had been collected from Hockwell Ring Day Centre and should have been dropped at her sheltered accommodation at Jill Jenkins Court in Whipperley Ring.
But the driver apparently ‘forgot’ she had a passenger on board when she returned the vehicle to the Kingsway depot at 5.30pm on April 30 and locked it.
The Herald&Post understands the alarm was raised on Tuesday morning when Westminster Homecare went into the woman’s home to provide care commissioned by the council and realised she was missing.
A member of the public who contacted the paper with the anonymous tip-off said: “Can you imagine what that poor woman went through - abandoned in a huge depot with no food or water and no toilet facilities?”
A council spokesman confirmed they were looking into the allegations.
He said: “We commenced an urgent investigation early on Wednesday morning into a serious incident at the depot.
“We can confirm that a member of staff has been suspended without prejudice while this investigation is being carried out. “It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
An Alzheimer’s Society spokesman said Luton had about 1,630 people living with dementia. Of these 634 had been diagnosed and were registered with local GPs.
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