POLICE mounted a full-scale search in York after two young children went missing from home.

The pair, aged three and four, were found safe and well after the area around their homes in Melrosegate was scoured for an anxious two hours.

The children were reported missing at about 3pm.

Eight police officers, some with dogs, searched the area before the two children were found by a member of the public who knew them and took them home.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said that it appeared the pair had ridden off from home on their bicycles.

He said: "We had a report that two children, aged three and four, were missing on bicycles and the possible area they could be in."

Officers were mobilised on foot and in cars and a "systematic search" of the area was carried out, including play parks and river banks.

But the spokesman said: "A local person recognised the children and took them to their home address."