In Lancashire, two men vanished on the same morning in late June. For more than a week, their families waited in anguish. Then, on 4 July, specialist search officers found a blue Peugeot 106 hidden in thick undergrowth off the A584 Preston New Road – and inside, the bodies of William Hutchinson, 31, and Stuart Tallis, 27.
This is how missing person vehicle searches work in the UK. When someone disappears, police often rely on the public, CCTV, and dashcam footage to trace their last movements. In this case, officers believed the car left the carriageway around 5.30am on 24 June, but the vehicle was concealed by undergrowth and not spotted by passing motorists for days. Lancashire Police issued appeals for witnesses and dashcam footage, and eventually located the car using specialist search officers from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit.
“How police search for missing people and vehicles, using a recent case of two men found in a crashed car hidden in undergrowth.”
The challenge is that a car can leave the road and be hidden from view almost instantly, especially on rural roads with dense vegetation. The A584 near Newton with Clifton is a main road, but the Peugeot was “hidden from view” in undergrowth off the westbound carriageway. Without a direct witness or a timely report, such vehicles can remain undiscovered for days or weeks – tragically, as happened here. Police believe the car left the road on the morning of the disappearance, but it was not found until 4 July, ten days later.
For UK readers, this case underscores the importance of checking dashcam footage if you drive in an area where a missing person was last seen. Lancashire Police specifically asked motorists who travelled along the A584 near Clifton on 24 June to review their recordings. It also highlights why reporting a missing person promptly matters: Stuart Tallis was reported missing three days after he was last seen, which can delay the search. Once a person is reported missing, police can begin tracing their vehicle through ANPR cameras, bank transactions, and phone data, but a car off the road can evade these digital trails.
Q: Why do cars sometimes stay hidden for days after a crash? If a vehicle leaves the road and plunges into thick undergrowth, trees, or a ditch, it can be invisible from the carriageway. Without a witness, the car may not be found until a deliberate search – using specialist officers, drones, or helicopters – covers the area.
Q: How do police search for a missing person’s vehicle? They start by gathering CCTV, ANPR, and dashcam footage to plot the car’s last known route. Then they deploy ground searches along that route, focusing on places where a vehicle could leave the road. In this case, specialist search officers found the Peugeot hidden from view off the A584.
Q: What should you do if you have dashcam footage from an area near a missing person? Contact the police force handling the case, quoting the reference number. They will advise how to submit the footage. In this investigation, Lancashire Police asked anyone with dashcam or CCTV from the A584 on 24 June near 5.30am to come forward.
What happens next? The formal identification of the bodies is pending, but police believe they have found William Hutchinson and Stuart Tallis. Sergeant Martin Wilcock of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said his job is to “establish the full circumstances which led to the collision.” Officers continue to appeal for witnesses and footage. The incident also serves as a reminder that even on busy roads, a car can disappear without trace – and that public vigilance can help bring closure to families.