Manchester Piccadilly: Train conductor helps return missing children

Mark said "alarm bells" rang when he saw a young girl and boy boarding a late night service

A quick-thinking train conductor has helped return two missing children home.

Conductor Mark said "alarm bells" first rang when he spotted a girl in school uniform boarding a late night service from Manchester Piccadilly.

The girl, and the boy she was travelling with, had no ticket or money, so he alerted police.

A TransPennine Express spokesman said: "Mark did an incredible job getting these two children to safety."

Mark persuaded the children to stay on the train, which was travelling to York, until he could pass them into the care of West Yorkshire Police at Leeds Station.

He even gave the girl a KitKat from another colleague's lunch box as she had low blood sugar, and her companion was worried she was having a diabetic episode.

Mark, a TransPennine Express conductor, said: "I've only been on the railway for the relatively short period of two-and-a-half years, but in this time, I have come across and dealt with a number of missing children.

"If something doesn't feel right, then report it. Be smart and ask questions. Overall, on our network we have great support and are lucky to have BTP at a number of the stations we serve."

Billy Vickers, head of stations and safeguarding at TransPennine Express, said: "Mark did an incredible job getting these two children to a place of safety and I know our other colleagues would do the same."