Jay Slater police search team blasted for 'sitting in cars chatting' by volunteer

A TikTok influencer involved in the hunt for missing Jay Slater has slammed the Tenerife police force, labelling their efforts as "ridiculous". Paul Arnott, aged 29, was among six volunteers who joined the search on its 13th day for the 19-year-old confirmed missing since June 19.

Frustrated by the slow pace of the official search, the amateur mountaineer Paul expressed his impatience and told officers to remove his name from the search list, opting instead to conduct his own search of the area. The Bedfordshire local, who shelled out £400 for a flight from the UK to Tenerife to aid in the search, recounted how he was kept waiting "ages" for the police to kick off their sanctioned search.

He confronted the authorities, saying: "Take my name off. I want to go search. This is ridiculous."

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Paul vented further: "Guys, I've literally been waiting for ages now. This is a massive PR thing I'm telling you now. I'm gonna ask them in a second to take my name off the list and do my own thing. This is ridiculous. Everyone's in their cars, it's all chat, chat, chat. My morning's been wasted. I've been so quiet about this, I'm not doing it anymore. I'm sick of this crap."

Expressing his exasperation with the situation, the TikTok personality had anticipated a "productive" morning in the search for the lost teen, but instead, Paul has criticised the Tenerife police for what he calls the "absolute madness" of their operation. He shared: "I'm so blooming stressed and annoyed about what's actually happened. I thought today was going to be so productive. I thought so many people were going to show up."

"I thought it was going to be really organised and I thought it was going to get out, not start the search when the hottest point of the day is. I just thought it was going to be massive and its not. It's absolute madness guys. I wish we could start a GoFundMe or something and just send a load of search and rescue guys from Scotland out."

"Maybe Monday I can contact Scottish Mountain Rescue and see if we can have a chat about things, but at the moment this is ridiculous. This is mad."

Paul previously told the Mirror he had been in touch with Jay's family, who say the mountaineer is "making them proud."

He said: "I wouldn't want them to come out here. It's the worst terrain ever. I wouldn't want my family coming out here, no chance. They're broken. I admire them so much for their strength. It's the worst situation any family could be in."

"It's horrible. I've been checking loads of different areas and some days I've been with the police and mountain rescue who have told me where to go to search."