Police launched a dramatic search for a missing child in Swiss Cottage only to discover the boy was safe and well with staff at his primary school.

Officers were called to reports that the seven-year-old boy – who was in the care of an au-pair – had gone missing from a bus stop outside the London Overground head office in Finchley Road at 3.15pm on Wednesday last week.

A police van attended the scene where a crowd had gathered around the child’s mother and au-pair, who were both visibly distraught, and the missing boy’s brother.

Shortly after the officers’ arrival, his mother received a call from the boy’s school to say he was there.

Officers then drove the mother and the au-pair to the school where they were reunited with the lad.

Student Paul Young, 16, said he saw the au-pair get off the C11 bus, heading to Brent Cross Shopping Centre, with the missing boy’s brother just after 3pm.

He said: “We found out she was supposed to have two children with her and she only had one with her.

“She just couldn’t believe it, she was running around for about five minutes panicking.

“The mum came down and they were having a bit of an argument.

“The au-pair said, ‘The boy is always doing things like this – he’s always hiding from me and playing practical jokes’.

“And then we heard the police say on the radio that the child was still in school.”