TWO schoolgirls are back home after a national hunt which ended in a 110mph car chase.

Citizen paper girl Lindsey Whaymen, from Heysham and her best friend Linzi Clarkin, from Morecambe, both 14, were found by police last Friday.

Family and friends had been searching day and night for the Morecambe High School students, who left home without money or spare clothes, and the Citizen office was inundated with sightings of the girls.

But they were eventually returned after being tracked down to Scarborough, where they were with a 17-year-old boy.

After being tempted to join another friend in Blackpool, police stopped the car the girls were being driven in on the M6 motorway.

Linzi's mum, June Clarkin, told the Citizen of her relief at the end of the week-long ordeal.

She said: "I'm over the moon. It was the worst five days of my life. You hear about things like this happening to other people, but you never expect it to happen to you.

"It really hit home when we reported her to the police. They came round to take details and I had to tell them what clothes she was wearing. I hope and pray that nobody else will ever have to go through what we have been through.

"I'm going to start a campaign to clean up the West End of Morecambe now. I used to live up there myself, but when I went up there to look for her, I saw some things that I had never seen before.

"I think it was only when they got home and saw all the newspaper articles that they realised just how much trouble they had caused."

And June also thanked the many people and organisations who had helped her: "I want to thank the police, the lorry drivers who we met at Forton service station and asked to send out details of the girls over their radios, the boys and girls of Morecambe, the work colleagues who rallied around while I was off work and my bosses at Summerfield Rest Home, who said I could have as much time off as I needed. I also want to thank the Citizen and other media who put the information out for us."

The girls were not abducted, and their disappearance was blamed on domestic troubles.

Police are now hunting for another 14 year old girl. Patricia Alston, from Oxcliffe Road, has not been seen at home since May 18. She is described as 5ft 8, and has strawberry blonde hair. Anyone with information is asked to call Lancaster police on 63333.