POLICE have called in eight civilian search and rescue teams from across the north of England, as the hunt for missing Claudia Lawrence steps up a gear.

More than 70 volunteers were yesterday helping the police to scour open land around the University of York, where the 35-year-old worked as a chef at Goodricke College.

Specialist air-scenting search dogs were also used, as the teams looked for any clues to help unravel the mystery over Claudia's whereabouts.

Chief Inspector Dave Hannan, deputy head of operations at North Yorkshire Police, said: “These teams have expertise in searching open ground and they have the resources and manpower that we need to increase our ability to search.

“They are looking for anything that will lead us to locating Claudia. On behalf of North Yorkshire Police, I would like to express my thanks to these people for giving up their time.”

Dave Bartles-Smith has been a member of Teasdale and Weardale Search and Rescue Team for 14 years. He said: “Traditionally, we are up on the mountains, but a lot of the work we do is low-level searches helping the police with people missing from home.

“We’ve been involved in bigger searches such as after the Lockerbie air crash, but this is the first one we’ve done in York.”

Yesterday morning, police officers descended on Heworth Road and Melrosegate at the same time Claudia should have been walking to work a week ago.

Between 5.30am and 6am they spoke with pedestrians and motorists who use the route regularly at this time of the day.

Meanwhile, drivers with Fleetways Taxis in York are displaying The Press’s posters asking for information about Claudia in their vehicles as they travel around the city.