A MOTHER has spoken out about the terrifying moment a man approached her daughter in a car and asked her to get in before following her up the road.

The 15-year-old girl had just popped to the shop at 11am when a man approached her while in his car.

Amanda Fairhall, the girl’s mother, said: “As she got to the Chinese restaurant - and there were lots of people sat outside the furniture shop on the other side of the road - this car came around the corner.

“She had dropped some money on the floor and had bent down to pick it up which I guess must have been when he spotted her.

“The car then mounted the pavement and wound the window down before telling her to get in the car.

“She carried on walking and said he said something else to her, but she was unable to make out what it was.”

The teenager went to use the crossing at which point the driver saw people sat outside the furniture shop and asked them for directions to a nearby pet shop.

Amanda, who is 51, added: “Anyone from the island knows where Brown’s Pet Range is so he clearly wasn’t. He then swung his car around and looked at her again.

“She ran across the road and rang me to tell me what had happened. I tried to ask her as much about it as possible while it was still fresh in her mind.”

The incident was reported to the police who are now appealing for information.

Amanda added: “She is ok, but was shaken up by it.

“What’s so frightening is that this was during the morning just at the top of our road.

“I also wanted to let other people on the island know because I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if someone was abducted by this man.”

There have been two other reports of similar incidents, one which police were unable to find on their system and another which was confirmed as completely unrelated according to the force.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Castle Point and Rochford Community Policing Team on 101 quoting incident 572 of 09/06 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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The Echo would like to make it absolutely clear the picture originally used with this article was a file picture from our archive.

A removal lorry in the archive picture has absolutely no connection with the investigation or the incident.

Police are looking for a car which was in the area in connection with the investigation after a 15-year-old was followed by a driver.

Neither have any connection with any removal lorry or firm.