A mum turned detective to track down her four-year-old daughter's missing teddy bear after he was heartbreakingly left on an easyJet flight.
Chelsey Peters couldn't accept that little Alice's beloved Toby was gone for good after the tot left him behind on a trip to see family.
They were flying from their home in Jersey to London Luton and knowing all too well how stressful it would be for Toby to get lost, Chelsey popped an AirTag on the black teddy bear before they left... just in case.
And her worst fear came true when putting Alice to sleep that night at her grandma's house, she realised the teddy had been left behind on the plane.
Most parents might have admitted defeat and start immediately searching for a replacement cuddly toy.
But Chelsey was determined she would track down Toby bear and set about emailing members of staff at Luton's lost property department, while also following Toby's AirTag location, in the hope he could be reunited with her daughter.
Chelsey, of Trinity, Jersey, said: "Toby is Alice's best friend and goes everywhere with he. He's not allowed to school now, so he stays at home or in her bag.
"She chews on his eye and always wants him if she's upset or has hurt herself.
"After we landed it was a rush and faff getting the hire car so we didn't notice Toby was missing until Alice went to bed at Grandma's house.
"When Alice woke up on Friday morning she was devastated he wasn't there.
"Grandma is Alice's favourite person and we hadn't seen her since August so she was appeased initially but kept missing him.
"Naively we thought we would just be able to go to lost property on the way back and have him handed back to us but we were pushed from pillar to post."
The Peters family, including Alice's little brother Oliver and Chelsey's husband Daniel, flew from Jersey to Luton on October 27 to attend a wedding and visit family in Kent.
A video of Alice on the easyjet flight shows her happily playing with Toby in her seat as the plane prepared to land at Luton.
She has had the bear since she was a baby in 2018.
Everything seemed fine, but that night Chelsey realised Toby was missing.
A quick check on his AirTag location showed him to still be at Luton Airport.
The family thought they would be able to collect him on their return to Jersey, so left three hours early to go and find him on their way back.
But the bear couldn't be located and not wanting to miss their flight they had to leave him behind.
Frantic Mrs Peters began tweeting anyone she could think of who might help, saying: "Our daughter left her favourite comforter Toby on flight EZY2312 Jersey to Luton on Thursday 27th.
"We have called every number and spent hours at the check-in desk trying to find him. He has an AirTag and we can see he's been stored at Luton. Please help return him!"
And she added: "Please help return him to a very sad four-year-old. He's been missing six days now!!!"
Ms Peters then set about tracking down anyone who could help, including staff from Menzies Aviation, the handling agent for easyJet at Luton.
She explained: "We kept emailing Menzies to find him but were getting no response.
"I then googled Menzies Aviation and found the email address for the site manager at Luton.
"I forwarded our emails to him and got an 'out of office' saying he'd left the company.
"Luckily his out of office had his replacements details including a phone number. My husband rang and he was really helpful at getting him located."
Staff trawled through lost property and eventually found Toby sitting in a pile of other belongings.
He has since been moved to an office in Bishop's Stortford, Herts, and is now waiting to be couriered back to the family.
A spokesman for easyJet said: "We're delighted that Toby was found safe and well at Luton Airport and will be reunited with Alice.
"We wish them many more happy travels together."
