A 12-year-old boy has told police he was approached by two balaclava-wearing men as he walked home from school in Tonbridge.

The Hayesbrook School pupil reportedly experienced the terrifying-sounding ordeal in the Douglas Road area of the town after school on Friday.

David Day, head teacher of the school in Brook Street, emailed a warning to parents this morning after the boy's parents told him about the alleged approach.

Mr Day said: "We put out a simple warning message to parents because we take our duty of safeguarding and protecting students seriously and feel parents need to be informed of any situation where safety may be a concern.

"After school today we will be sending some experienced members of staff to walk in that direction to check pupils are safe as they're leaving.

"I would like to thank the parents of the boy for alerting the school. The boy is fine. I hope this is a one-off, isolated incident."

A police spokesman said: "On Friday, March 4, Kent Police received a report of a suspicious incident in the Tonbridge area.

"A 12-year-old boy reported that between 3.30pm and 4pm he was walking along Douglas Road when two men told him to get into a van.

"Officers are trying to corroborate the version of events and working to establish the circumstances of the incident."

Last week a head teacher at a school in Tunbridge Wells warned pupils to stop looking at their phones and pay attention to what was going on around them after a girl was approached by men in a white van.

Just days before, two boys were reportedly approached by men in white vans in separate incidents in Sevenoaks.

Towards the end of last year, terrified school children were approached and reportedly chased by someone in a clown mask.

It turned out to be an 18-year-old woman behind the mask.