A HEADTEACHER has issued a warning to parents after a group of men attempted to abduct a boy of seven in broad daylight.

Joanne Howcroft-Scott, the new head at Raynehurst Infant School at Gravesend, sent a slip of paper to the parents of her pupils informing them of the potential danger.

She said: "Because we are in the community we decided to send the slip out to parents notifying them of the situation and to remind them to be vigilant."

The boy's father told the Gravesend Messenger that his son had been playing with a friend outside his house in Riverview Park when the men asked him if he wanted to go for a ride in their car.

"I'm proud that he did the right thing and ran away," said the father. "As soon as I heard about it I was out looking for them but didn't find anything."

Lorraine Whiteford, who lives in the Medhurst Gardens area of Gravesend heard about a similar incident from her children.

She was one of the parents who got the red slip from Raynehurst School.

She said: "The week before we heard about this my children had been playing outside when they ran inside to me. They said that a car had pulled up with a few men in it who had tried to grab two children into their car."

A police spokesman said: "The encouraging thing is that on each of the occasions that have been reported the children have acted in the appropriate manner. This is a credit to both the parents and schools."