The mum of a missing man has spoken out after police closed the M20 yesterday to look for him.

Tomasz Olejarz, 27, from Oxfordshire, was reported missing by his parents on Tuesday and officers from Thames Valley Police, with support from colleagues in Kent, shut the busy motorway at about 4pm.

They searched the coastbound carriageway between junctions 1 for Swanley and the M25 interchange and 2 for Wrotham and Sevenoaks for about an hour but did not find him.

This is not the first time Mr Olejarz, who has mental health problems, has disappeared.

In both February and April last year he was reported missing and police launched appeals to find him, describing him as white, 5’6” and with glasses and short, black receding hair.

He was found at the end of May and remained in touch with his mum Maria and dad Adam until last week when he disappeared again.

Mrs Olejarz told the Kent Messenger: “We just want him to come back home. He has big mental health problems and needs help, definitely. But he is quiet and friendly and has never been aggressive.

“We waited a couple of days before calling police, because it’s not the first time he’s been missing and we thought he might come back. We’re very worried.”

Mrs Olejarz said the family has no idea why police were searching for her son in Kent.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “Looking for him in Kent is one of our lines of enquiry.”

The National Police Air Service helicopter was up over the Snodland area at about 2.30pm yesterday but this was not connected to the search for Mr Olejarz.

A Kent Police spokesman said the aircraft, which was searching a hard to reach area, was not looking for a person and may have been gathering intelligence for an ongoing case.