Staff at a south London business are being credited with helping a previously reported missing woman get out of the cold and safely back home.
Larry Annaert, owner of Hyde Park Equipment, says he received a phone call from police who wanted to use his business as a staging area to search for the 72-year-old woman.
She had been reported missing around 2:40 am in the Scotland Drive and White Oaks Road area.
Annaert says there were concerns about the woman’s state of mind, which was further compounded by frigid temperatures and freezing rain.
Wearing nothing but pajamas and slippers, the woman came through the front door of Hyde Park Equipment at 6:30 am, where Annaert and a co-worker cared for her.
“I have [Annaert’s co-worker] covered her up in a coat and made her coffee and I went out to notify police. I figured she was sleeping in one of our machines. I followed her tracks into the snow and I saw the machine she was sleeping in,” says Annaert. “So, it kept her out of the weather.”