A 38-year-old man who went missing from Oulton Park racing track on Saturday has today been found alive and well – after a picture of his car was shared on Altrincham Today.
Matthew Balchin, from Southbourne near Chichester, was officially reported missing by Sussex Police three days ago after disappearing on his return from holiday.
His picture had been widely circulated on social media and he was understood to have connections with Team Repli-Cast UK Racing, a superbikes racing team.
It was known that he had last been driving a yellow Fiat and had links with Cheshire.
But it was only when we at Altrincham Today shared a photo of a yellow Fiat in Cecil Road car park with numerous attached parking tickets – a photo taken by Sale Today’s Peter Trollope – that the search for Matthew came to a swift end.
The photo posted on the Altrincham Today Facebook page:
A reader, Bez Bez, contacted the missing persons team investigating Matthew’s disappearance and within hours, he had been found by police in what was thought to be close to the Altrincham area.
A message from Team Repli-Cast UK Racing said: “Thank you so much for forwarding those car details on, they have now found him. It was his car and they’ve spoken to the police around that area and although he wasn’t with his car, he was in the area and they are with him now. All they’ve said is that he is well and alive, I’m not sure what state he’s in, but he is alive.. which is awesome..
“Thank you so so much for messaging about that, it’s found him.. the power of Facebook.. thank you so much.”
Sussex Police later confirmed that Matthew had been found:
Missing Matthew Balchin from #Southbourne near #Chichester has been found safe in Greater Manchester. Thank you for the RTs.
— Sussex Police (@sussex_police) September 21, 2016
