A FATHER-of-one has sparked a major manhunt after mysteriously disappearing as he was preparing to set off on a day out with his wife and friends.

Factory worker Alan Yates, 48, left home on Sunday morning to pick up a friend and left his wife making sandwiches for the trip.

He has not been seen since.

Baffled police are combing the Livesey area of Blackburn along with the Rossendale Search and Rescue Team.

Mr Yates, who lives with his wife Doreen and their daughter Melanie, 20, left his home in Kings Road, Livesey, shortly after 8am on Sunday to pick up a friend in the Infirmary area of Blackburn.

Mrs Yates said: "I was in the kitchen and he came in and mumbled something to me and just went out before I could answer him. Something gave me this horrible feeling that I had not said goodbye to him but I didn't run after him because I knew he was coming back to pick me up."

The couple and their friends were planning to take a vintage bus they had been renovating to a rally in Keighley, Yorkshire.

But Mr Yates never turned up at his friend's home or at the company in Darwen where the vintage bus is stored.

Mr Yates's red Ford Escort car was found by his wife's sister, Susan Cartmell, yesterday evening parked outside Sappi Paper Mill in Feniscowles. The car was only driven a short distance before it was parked and locked and there are no signs of it being tampered with.

His wife said today: "I have known him since I was 14. We have been married 26 years and he has never, ever done anything like this before. It is completely out of character.

"Melanie is devastated. She didn't give him his Fathers' Day card before he went because we thought he was coming back."

Mrs Yates said her husband was worried about his mother, who has been unwell.

Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen Mr Yates to contact them as soon as possible. Inspector Stuart Caley, the man leading the manhunt, said: "There is nothing to give any reason for Mr Yates's disappearance. "He was not receiving any medical treatment and there are no apparent problems in his home life.

"For some inexplicable reason he left home to pick up a friend but drove in the opposite direction.

"We would like to hear from anyone who knows of Mr Yates's whereabouts of from Mr Yates himself as soon as possible."

The missing man is 5ft 2in, stocky, has collar length dark brown hair and a moustache. He was wearing blue jeans and a navy and green coat when he left home.

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