The parents of The Only Way is Essex star James Argent say they still don’t know what happened to their son after he was reported missing for 24 hours last weekend.

His father Martin Argent, 58, of Woodford Green, told the Recorder he believed his reality TV star son had trouble with his phone after leaving his family home and going to Stansted instead of Gatwick airport.

His agent Neil Dobias raised the alarm when his client failed to turn up to take a 5am flight to Majorca on Friday morning.

Martin said: “We were extremely worried and we got to the point where we had to report it to the police.

“He had trouble with his phone, but he finally got in contact with us around 8am on Saturday morning.

“I still do not know what really happened – we have not had a chance to talk to him yet.”

Scotland Yard issued a public appeal on Saturday morning seeking information on Argent’s whereabouts.

His fans also began a Twitter campaign in a bid to track him down, using the hashtag #PrayForArg.

Argent was forced to publicly apologise after the incident.

Tweeted

According to his Twitter profile, at 11.42am on Saturday morning, he tweeted: “Hi I’m so sorry to have worried everyone. I’m fine and safe but again can’t apologise enough x.”

Police released a statement confirming that Argent was found in the Woodford Green area at about the same time.

The Met later dismissed claims of giving preferential treatment to the effort to track down Argent, compared with other missing persons inquiries.

A spokesman said: “The Met treats all cases of missing people seriously.

“We have well-established processes and policies.

“Each report of a missing person is recorded, risk assessed and investigated appropriately.”

His father said that it was “out of character” for his son to disappear, but added: “Of course, there are times where he will not tell us what he is doing.”