On Saturday September 10, Missing People will launch a new Search Partnership with Virgin Trains in the North West. 

As a Search Partner of the charity, Virgin Trains will display appeal posters for missing children and vulnerable adults in the region’s train stations. It is estimated that almost 50,000 people disappear every year from the region.

The official launch event will take place at 11am at Crewe Station, and will feature performances by the Nantwich Rock Choir and speeches by Missing People Chief Executive, Martin Houghton-Brown and Virgin Trains’ Human Resources Director, Patrick McGrath. The three teenage daughters of missing Chay Lancaster (42) will also be in attendance to mark the launch. Chay Lancaster will have been missing from Blackpool for one year on September 11, and will be one of six people to feature on the first appeal poster. Daughter Liz Lancaster, 20, says, “On the first anniversary of my father’s disappearance, I want to say thank you to Missing People and Virgin Trains for being a lifeline when someone disappears. I hope the new posters will help bring my father home, as we all miss him so incredibly much.”

Posters will be placed in the following North West stations: Runcorn, Warrington Bank Quay, Stafford, Stoke on Trent, Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport, Macclesfield and Crewe. The posters will feature six regional appeals for missing people and display the Missing People helpline number 116 000.

Patrick McGrath says: “Virgin Trains is delighted to support the great work that Missing People does in the North West. We carry over 28 million customers a year over our West Coast network and millions of those pass through stations in the region, where they will see the posters. We hope that displaying the posters will lead to some welcome news for friends and families of those who have gone missing.”

Martin Houghton-Brown, Chief Executive of Missing People, says: “If your child went missing, wouldn't you want the whole world to stop and look for them? The charity Missing People is building a dedicated community of people across the UK ready to join the search online, at work and in their neighbourhood. We are so grateful to Virgin Trains and their passengers for joining the search in the North West.”