A SEARCH has been launched to find the missing winners of more than £500,000 in unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in the North-East.

The unclaimed prizes range in value from £25 to £5,000, according to National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the government-backed savings and investments provider.

Tyne and Wear holds 45 per cent of the region's unclaimed prize money with 4,411 missing winners. There are a further 2,247 missing winners in County Durham and 2,155 in Cleveland.

In Tyne and Wear, the amount of unclaimed prize money stands at £265,000. This is followed by County Durham with £140,400 and in Cleveland the figure is £125,000, bringing the region's total to £530,000.

Sally Swait, Premium Bond manager at NS&I, said: "There are at least two unclaimed prizes valued at £5,000 each in Tyne and Wear, at least 11 valued at £1,000 each in Durham and at least two at £1,000 each in Cleveland.

"It is remarkable that we need to remind customers to claim any prize, particularly those worth £5,000."

Customers who own Premium Bonds and think they may have any unclaimed prizes can use the Premium Bond prize checker on the NS&I website at www.nsandi.com

The top five missing prize winners in each area are:

Tyne and Wear

Bond number 008EP999777, prize value £5,000, from Newcastle

001DF230538, £5,000, Newcastle

030PP549700, £1,000, South Tyneside

009LP404475, £1,000, Newcastle.

70CT848050, £1,000, North Tyneside

Durham

000CK973754, £1,000, North Durham

005BL899483, £1,000, North Durham

003BS429694, £1,000, North Durham

004ZH865588, £1,000, South Durham

057GD944446, £1,000, North Durham

Cleveland

007KS180476, £1,000, North Cleveland

000EW606770, £1,000, South Cleveland

048EL196688, £500, South Cleveland

037ML524064, £500, West Cleveland

071RB988529, £500, South Cleveland