THE FAMILY of a disabled passenger overlooked and left on a Bradford Council transport bus for up to five hours after the vehicle was parked in its depot, has told of the trauma it has wreaked on their lives.

The 31-year-old woman who lives in Heaton with her family is too scared to sleep alone and flies into a panic if a door is shut on her, said her sister who contacted the Telegraph & Argus after reading about the incident in the newspaper.

The family, who have asked not to be identified, are waiting for an explanation from Bradford Council but have been told they must wait longer for an investigation to be completed.

“They’ve told us the driver and the escort have been suspended. We have asked to see CCTV. How do we know she was on the bus all that time and wasn’t taken off by someone then taken back? We have lots of questions needing answers but the Council seems to be dragging it out. The service manager has admitted no routine checks.We have been let down badly.”

The woman who has learning disabilities and has autism should have been dropped off at the Grange Interlink day when it happened on November 11 but she remained unnoticed onboard the Passenger Transport Services (PTS) bus, which was driven back and parked up at the service’s Shearbridge Depot in Bradford.

The Telegraph & Argus was told the driver and escort had handed the vehicle keys back to the office and signed out and it was only when they returned to the bus ready for the afternoon collection that the woman was discovered.

The woman’s sister said the family were not officially told about the incident until much later that night, several hours after the bus had brought her home earlier than expected blaming staff shortages at the centre.

“We thought something was wrong because she was not her usual happy self. Her eyes were red, her head hurt and she went straight to her room. She gave my mum the £5 back she usually has to spend on a Friday and that was odd. She just seemed lost. Mum was so worried she took her to an out of hours GP. She was dehydrated. Later that night we got a phone call from the depot manager telling us there had been an incident and it was being investigated.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “The investigation into this very distressing incident is a priority for us. We have been in frequent contact with the family to answer questions they have raised and keep them up-to-date on the progress of the investigation.”

The incident is being treated as a safeguarding matter and was reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer in accordance with the Council’s safeguarding duties.

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