A care company in Northampton has suspended an employee after a mentally ill man was left in a car in freezing temperatures.
The Chronicle & Echo reported last week that a 57-year-old patient was found by a passer-by in Cowley Close, Wootton, Northampton, in a car with no heating.
On that day, weather records showed temperatures did not get above freezing.
Police already said they were investigating if the patient was neglected and were due to interview a man today, but in the meantime the Flexible Support Options company, of Lower Harding Street, Northampton, revealed it had suspended a member of staff over the incident.
A spokesman for Flexible Support Options said: “We have suspended a support worker pending an internal investigation and the outcome of the police investigation. We take the safety and well-being of the people we support very seriously.”
The passer-by who found the man said she noticed the car had been parked for at least an hour-and-a-half.
She became concerned after noticing the windows were steamed up and realised there was someone inside.
She described the man as “frantic” and called the police.
Officers searched the estate for the car owner but a man, believed to be his carer, came back to the car as the ambulance service arrived.
The patient was “not alert” but did not need hospital treatment.