Searching for someone in the UK

Searching for someone isn't always an easy task. There might be any number of reasons why you want to carry out a search for an individual – business, personal or financial. But knowing where to start isn't easy. That can be a problem, because often if you're searching for someone it's because you need to know where he or she is in a hurry.

Fortunately, there are quite a few sources of information that you can use to search for someone. These include the public phone directory, resources like the Land Registry, and records of births, deaths and marriages. Another popular option is to search for people on the Internet using major search engines. This can look attractive and easy, but it's also a good way of getting lots of useless data – you might have to wade through thousands of results before you find the person you're searching for.

Probably the most reliable way to find someone is to search the edited, publically-available version of the UK's Register of Electors. Although people can choose to keep their details out of this public version of the document, the majority overlook the opportunity to do so.

If you're searching for someone whose full name you know, a resource like this could be just what you need, especially if they have a relatively common name that might turn up lots of results in a phone book or Google search. PeopleTraceOnline.co.uk offers easy register access for a low fee, meaning you can search for people quickly and easily, and be reasonably sure of turning up a positive result.