BUSINESS people in Dover have been helping search the town centre after police received a distress call from the driver of a refrigeration lorry saying he was trapped inside his vehicle.

The caller, who appeared to be foreign, said he believed he was in the Dover area.

Members of the organisation Shopwatch, which is run by the Dover Partnership Against Crime and links local traders and businessmen by radio to the police and CCTV, joined in the hunt.

Information about the call was broadcast on the Shopwatch radios and traders helped police officers in an extensive search of the town centre area, including the docks, seafront, and all the local stores where deliveries might be carried out.

Police also made enquiries to try to trace the company the man might have worked for. So far no one has been found.

*Normally, Shopwatch is used to enable messages to be passed quickly between traders in the fight against town centre crime. There are more than 70 members in Dover, which was the first town in Kent to receive the Safer Shopping Award.