Two railway staff at Blackburn railway station in Lancashire have been praised for helping to reunite a missing eight-year-old girl with her family.

Northern employees James Waring and Abdi Sharey, who are employed by Carlisle Support Services which provides gateline staff for Northern, were on duty at Blackburn station in August when they noticed an unaccompanied child walking towards the ticket barriers.

After James and Abdi asked the girl some questions about why she was on her own, they became concerned about her welfare and decided to contact the police.

Earlier that day Greater Manchester Police had launched a major operation to search for and find the girl.

Once they received the telephone call, police officers were sent to pick her up so that she could be reunited with her family.

Northern has been running a programme since 2022 in partnership with the Railway Children charity. The programme trains operational colleagues on how to spot vulnerable people on the railway and how to persuade them to move to a place of safety.

The ‘Railway Children’ charity aims to identify individuals at risk, and help them by intervening before they cause themselves harm.

Two separate “Three Peaks” challenges held last May and June raised a massive £262,045 for the Railway Children charity, and on Friday, 17th May, Network Rail staff walked 28 miles from Woking station in Surrey to London Waterloo station to raise money for the charity.

“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.”

Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern