Police searching for a 15-year-old North-East boy who went missing at a popular Scottish tourist spot said last night he had been spotted in the early hours ten miles from his last known location.

Officers are now carrying out door-to-door inquiries in the village of Arrochar, Dunbartonshire, in the hope of finding teenager Adam Shad.

Adam, from Gateshead, was last seen by his family at about 4.45pm on Tuesday on the opposite shore of Loch Lomond from Ardlui, where they were holidaying.

He vanished shortly before a thunderstorm and was wearing only his tracksuit bottoms. Emergency services were alerted and a full search of the area got under way.

The search was called off for the night but will resume at first light if the youngster cannot be traced.

Adam had been on a camping holiday with his brother, Joseph, 11, his mother, Jeanette Cooper, and his stepfather, Terence Cooper.

Although physically fit, Adam had suffered mental impairment following a road accident in December.

His family said he may have panicked as the weather worsened on Tuesday night and got into difficulties when he became lost.

There was hope, however, that Adam may have taken shelter from the storm.

His mother described Adam as a "headstrong" boy who had been "fighting hard to get a normal social life" after he was knocked down.

"He comes out here after being stuck in his bedroom for weeks on end to be free. All he wanted to do was run in the fields," Mrs Cooper said.

"What are you supposed to do? Tie him down to stop him getting into trouble?"

She said the family would just have to "hope and pray that he's going to be sensible and strong enough and resilient enough to get himself back".

Mrs Cooper said Adam was prone to memory loss and had "slight problems with time".