# Require UK retailers to display verified missing-person information

**Petition**

We want the Government to introduce legislation or a national scheme requiring retailers and other public-facing businesses to provide reasonable opportunities for verified missing-person information to be displayed in their premises.

**More details**

When a child or vulnerable person goes missing, every minute can matter. Families are left desperately searching for their loved one, relying on members of the public to recognise a face, notice a poster or remember information that could help bring someone home.

Our team experienced this first-hand during the search for the beloved **Jasmine, aged 16**.

During our search, we approached businesses including **Greggs, Farmfoods, an Esso petrol station and Pepe's**, asking whether they would display information about Jasmine so that customers and members of the public could help look out for her. We experienced refusals to display the missing-child information.

For a family already living through the unimaginable fear and distress of having a 16-year-old loved one missing, being turned away when asking for help was deeply upsetting.

We believe that no family searching for a missing child should have to encounter inconsistent store policies that prevent verified information from reaching the public. Businesses may have legitimate reasons for having policies governing notices and displays, but there should be a compassionate, consistent and nationally recognised process for verified missing-person appeals.

The circumstances surrounding a missing child can change rapidly, and the outcome can be devastating. **This is precisely why we believe missing-person information should be treated differently from ordinary advertising, leafleting or general notices.**

A photograph displayed in a shop, supermarket, petrol station or other public-facing business could be seen by hundreds or thousands of people. Someone might recognise the missing person, remember seeing them, or provide information that could assist the authorities.

We therefore want the Government to work with police forces, recognised missing-person organisations, retailers, businesses and families to establish a national system for displaying verified missing-person information.

Any scheme should include appropriate safeguards, including:

* verification of missing-person information before it is displayed;
* clear procedures for families and recognised organisations to request displays;
* appropriate involvement of the police or relevant authorities;
* safeguards around children's personal information and photographs;
* clear procedures for updating or removing information when circumstances change;
* guidance for businesses and their staff on responding compassionately to missing-person requests; and
* a consistent approach across retailers, rather than leaving families to encounter completely different policies from one business to another.

**We believe families searching for a missing child deserve more than sympathy after the fact. They deserve every reasonable opportunity to reach the public while their loved one is missing.**

No parent, family member or loved one should have to walk from business to business asking for help and be told that company policy prevents a verified missing-child appeal from being displayed.

We ask the UK Government to introduce legislation or establish a national scheme requiring public-facing retailers and other appropriate businesses to provide reasonable opportunities for verified missing-person information to be displayed, subject to appropriate safeguards.

**Please help us make sure that what happened during our search for Jasmine is not something another family has to experience.**