OAP centre apologises after 'forgotten' 88-year-old is locked in after activity session

The drama happened at Westfield Centre in Bletchley, which runs daily activities for senior citizens.

Jean Stewart, who is 88, visited last Tuesday afternoon for the first time, hoping to making new friends and enjoy a chat.

But the fun afternoon ended in drama when she went to visit the bathroom before the session ended – and emerged to find herself in an empty and firmly locked building.

"It was really distressing for her,” said Jean’s niece Julie. “I find it shocking that this could happen.”

Julie regularly collects her aunt, who lives in Bournemouth, and brings her to stay with her at her MK home.

"I try to organise activities for her when she’s staying. The plan is for her to perhaps move here in the future to be closer to me,” she said.

"I took her to Bletchley Conserative Club for bingo, which was a great success. So then I heard about the Westfield Centre and we thought we’d give it a try on one of their craft afternoons.”

The centre has been run by the town’s Old People’s Rest Centre charity for the past 60 years and is the hub of the community for older residents. It holds coffee mornings, bingo sessions whist drives and also the craft workshops.

Julie said: “All was fine until my aunt decided to pop to the loo before the session finished. When she came out, the building was deserted and the door was locked. They had completely forgotten about her...”

Fortunately Jean has a mobile phone and was able to call her niece.

“She was upset and panicking,” said Julie. “I called the contact numbers I found online but nobody answered. There was a fire escape door but it was locked. So I had no choice but to dial 999 and ask for the fire brigade.

Because crews were busy with a fire, they took some time to arrive.

"The firefighters were excellent,” said Julie. “They managed to guide my aunt into opening a small window from the inside then one of them climbed in and rescued her. She was in there for almost two hours and was traumatised but fine.

"We were lucky, but what if it had been another elderly person who did not have a mobile phone or who had collapsed in the bathroom? I could have been disastrous.”

The Citizen contacted the Old People’s Rest Centre charity. who have apologised profusely. They had been trying to find a contact number for Jean so they could apologise personally.

"It was a genuine mistake and oversight. We’ve never had anything happening like this in almost 60 years of being open and we are so very sorry,” said a spokesman.

"We rely upon volunteers and there were two of them on duty that day. Each thought the other had checked the building before they locked up. They had no idea this lady was in the bathroom.”

Procedures have now been changed so the oversight will never happen again, said the spokesman.

"We hope Jean will visit us again. We are a lovely friendly place and we would love to see her.”