Work colleagues discover they are brother and sister after 20 years

Two work colleagues who became close friends over 20 years have discovered they are actually brother and sister. Dave Green and Andrea Unstun met at Manchester Airport bus station, where Dave worked as a supervisor and Andrea cleaned vending machines. They quickly bonded over shared interests, including motorbikes, and often finished each other's sentences. Colleagues even joked that they seemed like brother and sister.

The truth emerged in September 2007, when Andrea was upset about a foster child being returned to care. She called Dave, who revealed he was adopted. Andrea then told him she had an older brother who had been adopted, named Stewart. Dave's birth name was Stewart Proudlove. A quick call to Andrea's mother confirmed they were born at the same hospital on the same day, 24 March 1966.

Dave had been adopted as a baby. His birth mother was 15 when she had him and faced a choice: give him up for adoption or let her own mother raise him as her son, which would have meant the mother and son would have grown up thinking they were siblings. Dave said he was given the best opportunity for a great life and had no urge to find his birth family.

When Andrea took Dave to meet their mother, Dave recognised the route from his days as a bus driver in the 1980s. He had driven past her house hundreds of times. The reunion was emotional, with tears and hugs. Andrea's mother had promised her own mother at age six that she would find her son. As they embraced, she whispered, 'You kept your promise.'

Since then, the siblings have discovered many small similarities, from the way they brew tea to how they eat chocolate bars. Dave said of Andrea: 'I really do think you were my lottery win.' Andrea added: 'Out of anybody that I know I would have chose you to be my brother.' The pair now say their lives have been transformed by the discovery.