A Shropshire family desperately searching for one of their relatives who has been missing for more than a week have set up a social networking site in the hope of tracing him.

And today Mark Davies urged his 50-year-old twin brother Nigel to return home, after he disappeared on February 23.

Nigel, from Montford Bridge, near Shrewsbury, was last seen by a taxi driver who drove him from Shrewsbury to Baschurch between about 11.30pm and midnight on Monday last week.

Today Mark revealed nearly 600 people have now joined the Facebook site to try to find him.

Mark, from Baschurch, said there may be some issues his brother is concerned about which could be why he has gone missing.

In a plea to his twin he said: “Please come home. We will sort everything out and just want to know you are OK. We’ve all got financial problems and if this is the problem you’ve got then contact us and this will all be sorted.”

Mark added: “He usually contacts me if there’s any problems but he hasn’t contacted me at all. He’s dumped his car and his phone and has left his cat. It’s completely out of the blue.”

A member of staff from the taxi firm has written on the Facebook site to say Nigel originally called for a taxi from Monkmoor to Montford Bridge but changed his mind en route and asked to be taken to Baschurch, where the driver dropped him off.

On the Facebook site his niece Laura Davies says: “Family and friends are becoming increasingly worried as more days pass.

“Please invite your friends to join this group as the more people that see this the better our chances are of finding him. Thank you.”

Police believe Nigel, a 5ft 10ins tall security guard, may have returned to his home following the taxi journey but he has not been seen since. When he did not turn up for work last Tuesday evening, police were contacted and he was reported as missing.

Constable Damian Madeley, of Shrewsbury Police, said Nigel had never gone missing before.

Police can be contacted on 0300 333 3000.

By Rhea Parsons and John Kirk