Railway staff help reunite missing eight-year-old girl with her family

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com 
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Two train staff have been hailed heroes after helping reunite a missing eight-year-old girl with her family.

James Waring and Abdi Sharey were working at Blackburn Station in August when they saw the unaccompanied child walking towards the ticket barriers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
James Waring and Abdi Sharey were working at Blackburn Station in August when they saw the unaccompanied child walking towards the ticket barriers.James Waring and Abdi Sharey were working at Blackburn Station in August when they saw the unaccompanied child walking towards the ticket barriers.
James Waring and Abdi Sharey were working at Blackburn Station in August when they saw the unaccompanied child walking towards the ticket barriers. | UGC

After asking her some questions, they became concerned for her welfare and decided to contact the police. 

Greater Manchester Police, which had launched a major search operation to locate the child earlier that day, sent officers to pick her up and reunite her with her family.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “We’re incredibly proud of James and Abdi for reacting so quickly to help to reunite this girl with her family.

“Staff working at stations across our network are not just there to check tickets. They help protect thousands of people who travel on our services and are trained to respond to a wide range of challenging situations.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

James works for Northern and Abdi is employed by Carlisle Support Services (CSS), a company which provides gateline staff for the train operator.

Steve Cere, director of rail strategy for CSS, said: “This incident highlights the importance of having a visible staff presence across the network and underscores our commitment to actively ensuring that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility.

“James and Abdi’s actions underscore our team’s dedication to keeping all passenger’s safety and wellbeing at the forefront of everything we do, and we couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Since 2022, Northern's operational colleagues have been trained to spot vulnerable people on the railway and get them to safety.  

The training is provided by the charity ‘Railway Children’, whose work focusses on identifying individuals at risk and helping with early forms of intervention.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

News you can trust since 1886
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice