A former North Lakes man has been missing for more than eight months since he was last seen throwing away his mobile phone and walking off into remote woodland.
Forty-seven-year-old Andrew Gardiner’s previous known sighting back in September was via dashcam footage retrieved from his abandoned lorry.
Desperate family are baffled by his disappearance and are seeking any information that may lead to his whereabouts.
The former Keswick School pupil was a timber driver for A W Jenkinson at Lockerbie. Around 11am on September 7, he parked his lorry at Heathland Forest off the A706 in South Lanarkshire where he was due to make a collection of wood.
Despite extensive police searches using drones and sniffer dogs, no trace has been found of him and he has not used his bank account or email address since.
Andrew still has family in the Keswick area and once worked as a chef at the King’s Arms Hotel. He attended Newton Rigg College and had worked as a gamekeeper in the Penrith and Cockermouth areas.
His mother, Geraldine Grave, 78, lived at Embleton for many years and now lives in Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway.
She said Andrew had given no indication anything was wrong, either personally or at work. While his work took him away for days and nights at a time, he was happy doing it, she said. “It’s completely bizarre,” said Geraldine, who last saw her only son last August.
“We don’t really know what is going on.
“It’s completely out of character. We can’t work out what’s happened. He loved his job and the Highlands. He went to Lanarkshire to collect wood and walked away – that’s all we know,” she added.
Andrew, who is married to Tanya and has an 18-year-old daughter, was familiar with the Fort William area.
“He was such a happy soul and it is a complete and utter mystery. Everything seemed normal and we can’t come up with anything we can pinpoint,” she said.
Andrew lived at Castle Douglas when he went missing.
He is around 6ft 2ins and when reported missing was wearing a navy blue polo shirt, black jeans and dark-coloured work boots.
Anyone with information should contact Lanarkshire police on 101, quoting incident 2306 of September 10.
