They became best friends - then discovered they were brother and sister

Dave Green and Andrea Urmston found they instantly hit it off when their paths crossed while working in separate roles at Manchester Airport.

The two strangers got on so well they could complete each other's sentences - which made sense when they discovered the truth.

Dave was Andrea's biological brother, but had been adopted by another family when he was a baby.

"I was shaking, I was just shaking and my heart was pounding," Andrea told the BBC. "I'd finally found him. It's unbelievable."

In 2005, Dave was managing the bus station at the airport and Andrea serviced the vending machines.

Over the next two years they became firm friends, texting and phoning each other when they were not at work.

One day during a phone call, Dave told Andrea something he had never mentioned before. He was adopted and his birth name was Stuart Proudlove.

"I kind of froze and didn't speak for a minute," said Andrea.

Her maiden name was Proudlove and she had a brother who was adopted before she was born.

"It's not a very popular name and it had to be him. Other than family, I had never heard that surname anywhere else," she added.

She immediately rang her mother, Susan, to check her long-lost brother's birth date. They matched: 24 March 1966. She called Dave straight back.

"I said 'it's got to be you, it's got to be you', and I said 'I need to see you', and so I went to pick him up," Andrea said.

As they were driving to their mother's house, Dave realised where he was. They were driving along the bus route he used to cover before becoming a manager.

His old route had taken him right past his mother's house, and the school that Andrea had attended.

He had been within touching distance of his birth family without realising.

Susan said finally meeting Dave was a surreal moment.

"There were lots of tears. Then we just all hugged," said Andrea.

"I couldn't believe that I'd got my brother and my mum together, it was amazing."

Andrea's mother had told her that she had a brother when she was younger.

She told her he had been given up for adoption and had gone to a lovely lady who could not have children of her own.

"I immediately wanted to go and call him so we could play," Andrea said.

Susan said she had tried to find her son with the help of the Salvation Army, but had not got anywhere.

"I asked if we could go and get him back," Andrea said. "She did explain that it didn't work that way, so I promised her that I would find him for her one day."

Now they were finally being reunited.

"She had wanted that since being as young as I can remember," Andrea added.

"So yeah, I gave her that. I promised her that."

On the mantlepiece in Susan's home was a picture of Dave as a baby.

It had been sent by his adopted parents to his birth mother days after his adoption.

The same photograph had also been displayed in his adopted parents' house.

Dave had known since he was 10 that he was adopted, because his adoptive parents had shown him the paperwork.

But he said he had a very happy childhood, and had never harboured any desire to track down his birth mother.

"I didn't feel like I had to go searching or have any unanswered questions," he added.

For all three, finding each other has been a life-changing experience.

"I went from having really not a lot of positivity in my life at the time, to finding out that my best friend was my sister," Dave said.

"I'd found my birth mum being able to sort of make her truly happy. And I'd found a family really that I never really knew existed."

Their mother died recently, but both said they were glad she got to be reunited with her son.

"She was so desperate to find you to make sure you'd had a really good life," Andrea said.

For Andrea, the reunion was bittersweet. She had longed to find her brother for years.

"My mum and dad, they separated unfortunately and so I went through a lot of hard times knowing [Dave] was out there but I didn't know [where]."

The pair said they were now making the most of the time they have together after moving in with each other in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire.

Finding each other was, they said, their "lottery win".

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