A family has raised concerns after it took police nearly half an hour to find the right house after going to the wrong number property during a search for a missing man, an inquest has heard.

An inquest into the death of Bradley Lomax, 30, who was struck by a train in Westhoughton just before 11pm on March 24 last year, began at Bolton Coroners' Court on Monday.

Bradley had been at his partner Demi Norris' house in Westhoughton when she called police because he was said to have been acting aggressively.

PC Gradwell and PC Le Blanc arrived at the house, but by that time Bradley had left.

Demi told the officers that "he said that he was going to go jump in front of a train", the inquest heard.

After a search of the area where they thought he would be, the officers were told by their supervisor to check Bradley's parents' house.

PC Le Blanc said: "We weren't given much time when we searched the area. It was deathly silent, visibility was poor and there was no lighting.

"The supervisor in charge told us to abandon the area and go to the houses."

PC Gradwell said that the address Demi had given him for Bradley's parents was incorrect.

However, Rebecca Sutton, counsel for Bradley's family, disputed this at the inquest.

PC Gradwell's notes taken on the night were presented as evidence in the inquest, but the house numbers had been redacted.

Ms Sutton said that the original document had said the correct number before it had been redacted, with the officer writing the wrong one on a note taken later in the night.

After the officers showed up to the address that they had mistakenly thought was Bradley's parents, it took nearly half an hour before they knocked on the right door.

Bradley's parents' house was just across the road.

Ms Sutton said: "The family believe that they saw a police car outside their property at 10 minutes to 11.

"But they say that the knock on the door came at 17 minutes past 11.

"The family's concern is that there were 27 minutes with police being outside and not knocking on their door.

PC Gradwell said: "I don't recall it taking that long but I have no proof that it took shorter than that."

Ms Sutton said that the family had proof because they had made a phone call at 17 minutes past 11, immediately after the police had knocked on their door.

PC Le Blanc, who was partnered with PC Gradwell, said: "To my recollection, that's incorrect, there's no reason why we would be there for that long.

"We have no evidence to back that up."

She said that they had to spend time waiting on someone to answer the door because it was late at night.

A "young lad" opened the door and "he didn't know anything so he had to get his mum".

They also took their details down in case the address turned out to be the right one.