A search has been launched for people across Suffolk who have not yet claimed premium bond prizes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

There are more than 7,600 unclaimed prizes for people living in the county worth a combined £350,000 – and National Savings & Investments (NS&I) is now looking for them.

There is no time limit for claiming prizes and each one is held until the rightful winner can be tracked down. The oldest unclaimed prize in Suffolk dates back to 1967 and is worth £25. There are several people who have won £1,000 prizes, including a woman who invested £3 in 1986 and a man who bought £20 of bonds in 1995.

Jill Waters, NS&I’s operations manager, said: “It is likely that the winner of the £1,000 prize is unaware or she has forgotten that she has Premium Bonds – the lucky winner has just £3 invested.

“Prizes often become unclaimed as a result of people moving house, or forgetting that bonds have been bought for them as a child, or executors are unaware the bonds are held when someone dies.”

Across the country there are nearly 900,000 prizes worth a total £44million waiting to be claimed. The NS&I website enables people to track their bonds and have any prizes paid directly into their bank account.

For more details visit www.nsandi.com