UPDATE: Appeal after 12-year-old approached near school

At around 4.40pm on Tuesday, the local schoolboy was walking along Royal Avenue close to St Mary’s Catholic High School when a car containing two men and a woman stopped.

The driver asked the boy whether he wanted a lift and asked him to get inside. But the boy walked away from the area and returned home safely. There was no attempt to physically abduct the boy.

Sgt Mark Douglas from Leyland Police said: “We are treating this incident seriously and I would like to reassure local parents and residents that we have stepped up patrols in the area.”

He said reports of this nature were rare and no other concerns about behaviour in the area on Tuesday had been made.

He added: “If you were in the vicinity at the time and saw this vehicle, or similarly if you think you might know who the car belongs to, please contact us. We don’t know for sure what the intentions of the occupants were and we aren’t ruling out that it could have completely innocent and so if you think that this was you, please come forward.”

The driver and the front seat passenger are described as white men, one of them bald. The woman, who was in the back, had red or purple dyed hair.

Call police on 101.