POLICE have received more than 500 calls about schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, but there is still no trace of the missing nine-year-old.

Police carried out an ‘information seek’ in the Dewsbury Moor area on Tuesday at the times she was last seen and spoke to about 1,500 motorists.

But detectives are still lacking the big breakthrough they need to solve the mystery, even though they have now visited 2,000 homes in the area.

The detective leading the hunt, Det Supt Andy Brennan, has said he is gravely concerned about Shannon’s welfare and fears she may have “fallen into the wrong hands’’.

He believes the key to Shannon’s disappearance lies in the local area and police spoke to drivers at five locations near to the place where Shannon was last seen.

Shannon had been to a swimming lesson and returned with other pupils to her school, Westmoor Junior, before she vanished on Tuesday afternoon last week.

Her worried family alerted police that evening and a major search quickly began.

One of the homes searched by the police teams was in Brackenhall.

Householder Elaine Scotland said eight officers had called on her late on Tuesday night and insisted on carrying out a detailed search of her home, even though she insisted there were no children there.

She said: “I know they need to find the girl, but I have no links to her or her family and I knew of no reason why they should search my house.

“All I can think is that someone had seen two little girls on the path outside my house earlier in the day and reported it.”

A photo of the bus that took Shannon and other pupils back to school has now been released to help jog people’s memories.

Det Supt Brennan said: “Images of Shannon leaving Dewsbury swimming baths were released last week.

“We are now releasing images of the actual coach that returned Shannon and her classmates after their swimming lesson last Tuesday parked outside Westmoor Junior School.

“The coach is maroon and appears very distinctive in colour. I would appeal to anybody who was in the area on Tuesday last week to think back to that time and assist me.’’