A woman who lost her engagement ring on a train from Chalkwell to London is over the moon that it was found – when staff removed the grills from the heaters.

Lucy Holbrook, 37, never lost hope that her missing ring would turn up after her frantic Facebook appeal was shared more than 7,000 times.

Three weeks later, Lucy has said she can’t thank enough the hard-working c2c employees who recovered her precious ring after stripping out the carriages.

Lucy, a hair colourist from Leigh Cliff Road, Leigh, said: “I am so grateful to them for finding it for me and to all the people on Facebook who sent me positive messages of support.

“I honestly believe that played a role in the ring finding its way back to me.”

Lucy was travelling to work in London from Chalkwell Station on October 21 when she removed her ring to moisturise her hands.

She placed the ring on her lap and covered it but when a large number of passengers joined the train at Upminster, Lucy cleared space by moving her bag and the ring was knocked off her knee.

She said: “I felt physically sick when I realised. My heart fell out of my mouth.

“Everyone on the carriage was helping me look for it. I asked the people behind to check under their seats and I was double-checking everything from my bag to my shoes.”

Lucy, who got engaged in March and is due to get married to fiance Gordon Shepherd next May in Aberdeen, reported the loss to c2c staff and the British Transport Police, who were all more than happy to help.

She said:“They were so helpful. There was a lady and a man who bent over backwards trying to find it.”

The staff deep-cleaned the carriage three times in search of the missing ring and even removed the seats to try and track it down.

Chris Atkinson, head of communications at c2c, said: “Our whole team at East Ham depot helped in the hunt for Ms Holbrook’s ring, and they literally left no seat unturned as they stripped the carriages out in their search.

“We were delighted that we managed to find the ring and could reunite such a treasured possession with its owner.”

The ring was eventually found on Monday after staff removed the grills on the heaters.

Lucy said: “I literally burst into tears when I got the phone call. My fiance went to pick it up from the depot for me.

“He was really supportive throughout. He said ‘don’t worry about it’.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of messages on Facebook. I was inundated with positive vibes.

“I’m so overwhelmed and I really feel that’s why it came back.”