Two teenage girls were set to be interviewed by police today over claims that a man tried to abduct them.

The girls - aged 13 and 14 - said they were grabbed by a man who tried to drag them into his car, but both managed to free themselves from his grip. They fled screaming from the scene in Walsingham Road, Southend.

The two friends were on their way to the home of one of the girls when they were approached by a man in a Fiesta-like car in Walsingham Road.

The girls went back to the 14-year-old girl's home and her mother called the police following the incident at about 9.30pm on Thursday.

Published Monday August 30, 2004

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