The carer who was sacked for breaching health and safety rules after making out-of-hours visit to dying resident

As the manager of a sheltered housing scheme, Linda Coote took pride in caring for her elderly residents.

So she didn't think twice when asked to help a terminally-ill tenant after working hours.

But doing so saw Mrs Coote, 55, breach a ban on dealing with problems after 4.30pm.

And it eventually earned her the sack for gross misconduct.

The 60-year-old she went to see was in the final stages of motor neurone disease and died two days later.

Yet Mrs Coote was dismissed after 14 years of service and given two weeks to leave the home that came with the job.

She lost her appeal against the decision and is now taking her employers, Home Housing Group, to an employment tribunal.

"I am absolutely devastated. It was a job I loved," she said yesterday. "It's taken me weeks to stop crying. Nobody can believe what happened."

Mrs Coote admits failing to follow and document health and safety procedures such as checks on doors and fire extinguishers – lapses cited in her dismissal.

But she said the after-hours breach under "lone worker and vulnerable adult rules" was the main reason she lost her job at Prospect Place in Lingdale, near Middlesbrough.

"The policy rule is that I cannot work outside of my hours because I am not insured," she said.

"After 4.30pm residents have a cord they can pull to alert a company called Careline.

"But if someone knocks on my door and asks me for help I am not going to turn them away."

Mrs Coote was called in by the man's carer to help her and two other carers understand what he was saying.

She added: "He had no family and I was friendly with him and had supported him in the past so there is no way I would have said no. He wanted his mouth swabbing but he was having difficulty communicating."

Mrs Coote was paid around £12,000 a year after tax to check on the site's 41 elderly residents and help them organise their lives.

She and her husband Colin, a 57-year-old coach driver, took residents on day trips and for one week of holiday each year.

Jean Harrison, a 65-year-old resident of Prospect Place, said: "Every time we went to Linda she was so helpful and we won't get another manager like her. We just wish we could have her back. She put herself out for a lot of people."

Residents organised a petition asking for Mrs Coote to be reinstated.

A spokesman for the Home Housing Group said: "We will not be able to offer any comment due to the ongoing arbitration process."