School children and parents touched by the McCanns' loss have raised the cash by collecting donations and selling ribbons.

Two workers at Bosal UK, based at Walton Summit, near Preston, have raised £440 by collecting donations from co-workers.

Meanwhile, two pupils at Lostock Hall High School and Arts College have been busy making and selling yellow ribbons which are being worn to raise awareness of the plight.

Elliot Costas-Walker and Katie Corrigan, who are both in year 10, raised more than £30 in just one breaktime.

All the money will go to the fighting fund to aid the search.

Robin Stopford, deputy headteacher at the Todd Lane North school, said: "They felt they wanted to do something to help.

"They are now planning to carry on selling the ribbons until the four-year-old is found."

Mick Race, 35, of Grange, Preston, a warehouse operator at Bosal, said he felt "obliged" to help following the disappearance of a youngster from his estate last year.

He said: "I have got a young daughter of my own and I understand what they must be going through and how they felt when it happened.

"It was only last year a lad went missing in the estate where I live.

"He had just wandered on to another estate but I saw how stressed the parents were."

Mick, along with Bosal safety representative and operator Eddie Butler, 35, of School Field, Clayton Brook, near Preston, received £100 from the firm, £50 from the Transport and General Workers Union, £50 from the company's social club and a further £240 from fellow employees.