Max
12-20-2002, 12:27 PM
Wheelchair woman locked in minibus
By Steve Castle
Dec 20, 2002, 11:44am
A council worker left an 80-year-old woman in a wheelchair locked in a minibus on her own for more than an hour.
Police officers had to smash a window to gain access to the local authority vehicle and free the pensioner who was said to be in a "very distressed state" .
An ambulance was called but she refused hospital treatment and was instead taken to a nearby old people's resource centre to be cared for until she could be picked up.
Senior officers at Walsall Council today launched an inquiry into the incident which happened yesterday afternoon on the Wakes Ground car park in Lower Lichfield Street, Willenhall.
A spokesman for the council said: "We have interviewed the driver and taken her off active duties while the matter is investigated.
"The driver in question is very upset about what happened and we will make sure nothing like this ever occurs again."
The employee is still at work but not driving pensioners.
A Dutch lorry driver parked nearby raised the alarm after she saw the woman signalling that she was locked in and wanted to be let out, said Bloxwich police inspector Gary Titley today.
He said: "She was in a very distressed state but was not in any way ill.
"We don't know the background to what happened and we are looking into it."
The woman was taken to the elderly people's resource centre in Sandbeds Road, Short Heath, but today no one there would make any comment.
© Copyright 1997-2002 Express & Star
By Steve Castle
Dec 20, 2002, 11:44am
A council worker left an 80-year-old woman in a wheelchair locked in a minibus on her own for more than an hour.
Police officers had to smash a window to gain access to the local authority vehicle and free the pensioner who was said to be in a "very distressed state" .
An ambulance was called but she refused hospital treatment and was instead taken to a nearby old people's resource centre to be cared for until she could be picked up.
Senior officers at Walsall Council today launched an inquiry into the incident which happened yesterday afternoon on the Wakes Ground car park in Lower Lichfield Street, Willenhall.
A spokesman for the council said: "We have interviewed the driver and taken her off active duties while the matter is investigated.
"The driver in question is very upset about what happened and we will make sure nothing like this ever occurs again."
The employee is still at work but not driving pensioners.
A Dutch lorry driver parked nearby raised the alarm after she saw the woman signalling that she was locked in and wanted to be let out, said Bloxwich police inspector Gary Titley today.
He said: "She was in a very distressed state but was not in any way ill.
"We don't know the background to what happened and we are looking into it."
The woman was taken to the elderly people's resource centre in Sandbeds Road, Short Heath, but today no one there would make any comment.
© Copyright 1997-2002 Express & Star