Mencap worker pictured with a disabled man in a wheelchair who was piled high with shopping bags KEEPS her job

A MENCAP support worker has kept her job after she was pictured smoking next to a pensioner in a wheelchair piled up with shopping bags.

Callous Emma Price was suspended after the picture came to light and attracted thousands of comments on Facebook.

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The 25-year-old wheeled the man in his 70s around her favourite stores and then loaded him up with shopping bags from Next and TK Maxx when she was supposed to be giving him a breath of fresh air.

The charity said the image "does look distressing" and that the conduct of the carer "fell well short" of their standards, but that it did not "warrant dismissal".

They launched an independent investigation after the photo, taken near Leicester's High Cross shopping centre, was posted to their Facebook page last month.

Outraged Charlotte Shaw posted the image on Mencap’s Facebook page with the caption: “One of your staff smoking whilst on the phone in Leicester, shoving all of her shopping bags on top of him with no care in the world.”

Her message added: “I don’t think she should be able to work with vulnerable people who need care.”

Regional director of services Steve Baker said: "The hearing concluded that while the conduct of our colleague fell well short of what we would expect in this instance, it did not warrant dismissal.

"Central to our decision were the statements and wishes of the person we support and his family."

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In a statement provided by the charity, the brother and guardian of the man pictured with the carer said the photograph "painted a very misleading picture of what was happening".

He added: "On that day, they had been out shopping for some new clothes (he) wanted, and he likes to be able to see his shopping and asked to have his bags in front of him."

The man added that he was "glad" the carer had not been dismissed.