Centre apologises after special needs patient left in locked bus

The chairman of a care centre responsible for a woman with special needs who was accidentally locked inside a bus for seven hours last week said its first priority was her safety.

Chairman of Tipperary town's MooreHaven Centre Denis Kennedy said the organisation's second priority is to make sure an incident like this never happens again.

The woman was supposed to have been dropped off at the centre but was found by a bus driver after close to seven hours alone in the bus in a yard at Limerick Junction last Monday. The woman’s absence had been noted by centre employees.

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Kennedy said the centre was very sorry for the incident.

“I’m not going to try and justify it. When we get things wrong we hold our hands up and we are holding our hands up in this instance,” he said.

“These were serious gaps. In the past they haven’t caused problems of this magnitude.”

Mr Kennedy added that the care centre will be more proactive in contacting family members in future. The incident occurred last Monday and the woman did not attend the centre the following day.

On Wednesday, the woman returned to the centre and appeared to be fine, Mr Kennedy said. “She seemed to be fine and comfortable and relaxed in the centre.”