Father and daughter are no longer Poles apart

Miss Wloclawska came to England in the early 80s as a nine-year-old girl with her late mother as her parents had separated.

Her mother, Regina Taylor had remarried and the family lost contact with Andrzej Wloclawski.

Shortly after arriving in the country little Beata changed her named to Lisa and when she married her surname became Tinti.

But Mr Wloclawski did not give up hope of finding his daughter and used the Red Cross and Facebook to trace her family.

They got in touch in December and on Wednesday the 63-year-old got on a bus from Eastern Europe.

He arrived via London and at 5am on Friday morning was collected at Durham Bus Station by his delighted daughter.

Miss Wloclawska, 44, a teaching assistant at Bowburn Junior School, said: “It is amazing. When he first got in touch I cried for three days. He could not wait to see me.

“The first moment was very nice. We just grabbed each other. It was very emotional. We cannot stop hugging.”

Miss Wloclawska, who is mother to Roberto, 25, and 21-year-old Francesca, has also learned she has four half brothers: Albert, 30, Patryk, 23, Krystian, 21, and Kacper, 17.

Her father has also been looking forward to meeting his grandchildren, who are both grown up, for the first time.

Mr Wloclawski said: “I tried very hard to find her in England but she changed her name so it was impossible. It is a very strange feeling seeing her after all of this time but I am very happy. It is fantastic.”

Picking up of their relationship is not helped by the fact that Miss Wloclawska, who lives in Bowburn, no longer speaks Polish and her father knows no English.

She said: “When we moved over here my mother and I spoke English, even though she was Polish, so now I don’t understand it. We are communicating using apps on mobile phones and tablets.”

She now plans to visit her new family in Poland.

Mr Wloclawski said: “It was a very hard journey coming over, especially as I do not speak English, but it was worth it.”