Volunteers at a charity devoted to helping find vulnerable adults and missing children in Surrey have been nominated for the Croydon Champions team of the year.

Surrey Search and Rescue (SurSAR) have a team of 50 people and 8 search dogs, who are on-call 24 hours a day to help the emergency services find vulnerable and missing people across Surrey and south-west London.

The team are trained to find and give first-aid to anyone who is reported missing or lost, whether it is an elderly person suffering from dementia, or a lost young child.

The crew work alongside highly-trained search dogs, each of which is a domestic pet who has been trained over two years to search for people using air-scenting.

The charity are funding purely by donations, and all team members give their time and petrol money for free.

The team were nominated by Kirsty Pearce, from New Addington, after she experienced their help first hand when they helped look for a missing friend.

She said: "What SurSaR do is amazing and they provide an invaluable service working alongside the police force providing extra service and help.

"All of the Surrey Search and Rescue crew are volunteers, who dedicate their time and efforts to this and raise their own funding. They do not take what they do lightly and are constantly training and improving their skills."

Speaking about their nomination, SurSAR crew member, Andy MacAuley, said: "It is fantastic news we have been nominated for the Croydon Champions award. It was a pleasant surprise and I thank everyone who nominated us.

"I hope we remain having an impact on people’s lives, because to make a difference to that person and their family is what makes it all worthwhile."