Incredible journey of little boy lost who tried to get home

A boy aged five who got lost on a shopping trip with his family turned up more than 200 miles away after making his way to a railway station and boarding a train.

Shabaaz Iqbal became separated from his mother and four brothers in a store in Glasgow on Saturday on his first trip to the centre of the city. He is believed to have tried to return to his home in the south of the city by train but boarded the 4.06pm Virgin Trains service to Reading in Berkshire.

Despite sitting with adults during the journey of three and a half hours, nobody raised the alarm before he got off at Macclesfield in Cheshire, 229 miles from where he had started, just before 9pm.

The boy, who was not wearing socks, was spotted by staff at the station, while up to 60 police officers, including dog handlers and mounted police searched Glasgow city centre for six hours.

The boy, described as being completely "unfazed" by the experience, told staff his first name and they alerted police in Glasgow. He spoke to his mother on the telephone and was given a fish supper while he waited for her to travel down to pick him up. They returned to Glasgow early yesterday.

Virgin Trains said it was inexplicable why none of his fellow travellers raised the alarm. The boy did not have to buy a ticket because of his age and did not have to pass through a ticket barrier. But he would not have been tall enough to press the button to open the train doors and is thought to have mingled with other boarding passengers to gain access. He is believed to have sat with other adults, none of whom told ticket inspectors that he was not with them.

Superintendent Carolyn Harper, who was in charge of the police operation, said: "His brothers are quite amazed that their youngest brother was able to travel so far in such a short space of time.

"When he became separated he instinctively thought the way to get home was the way he had come into town and he got on a train."